Wempe Glashütte marked its tenth anniversary last week with the unveiling of three watch lines and its first self-winding calibre.
Kim-Eva Wempe, CEO for Wempe, says it has been working on creating its own self-winding movement ever since the decision was taken to start making its own watches.
“The idea of developing our own rounded self-winding calibre arose back when we launched our first wristwatch chronometers ten years ago,” she describes.
“The technical development process ultimately lasted for almost four years. After a focus on traditional watchmaking, the emphasis is now on pioneering innovation. At the same time, we’re staying true to our principles of well-balanced aesthetics and fair pricing.”
The CW 4 movement with a 92-hour power reserve is used in a new Wempe Chronometerwerke Automatic, a three-hand watch with a date display.
The watch has a 41 millimetre circular case that is 11.7mm deep.
A stainless steel version has a matte silver dial with polished hour markers and is worn on a black full-cut crocodile leather wristband sewn in Germany. It will retail for £6100 at Wempe boutiques.
A yellow gold edition priced at £13,150 has a silver dial with a matte champagne hue, and the polished hour markers are gold-plated. This model is worn on a cognac-coloured leather wristband.
The self-winding calibre, designed by Wempe in collaboration with Soprod, is the fifth manufacture calibre of Wempe Glashütte I/SA.
Also part of Wempe’s anniversary collection is the limited edition Zeitmeister Annual Calendar.
100 pieces of this Annual Calendar with a self-winding movement will be made.
Wempe claims it is the world’s first annual calendar with a German chronometer certification.
The watch displays all the details of a full year on its 42 mm dial using subdials it calls totalisers.
The date is read off at three o’clock, the day of the week at nine o’clock and the month at twelve o’clock.
A depiction of the moon phase on a midnight-blue sky full of golden stars lies behind a cut-out opening in the dial.
It shows not just the current state of the moon but also whether it is waxing or waning.
Wempe uses an ETA 2892-A2 movement for the watch, but says it has been optimised in its workshop.
The stainless steel watch will retail in the UK for £6995.
The final piece released at last week’s anniversary press conference was the Zeitmeister Diver’s Chronograph DLC. Limited to 100 pieces, the watch a self-winding calibre Valjoux 7750 with 48 hour power reserve.
The 45mm case is waterproof for dives of up to 300m. The watch will be available from next month at Wempe boutiques, priced at £3500.
