Spezial Treatment

Glashütte Original’s new line of utility watches draws inspiration from the past

- Sean Mossadeg

ARMED WITH UTILITARIAN SPIRIT AND A FONDNESS FOR NOSTALGIA, GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL’S SPEZIALIST MARKS THE BRAND’S NEW INROADS IN THE SPORTS-CASUAL CATEGORY

The sleepy German town of Glashütte is not unlike many of the Swiss cantons that play home to the world’s largest watch brands – small, quiet and packed avenue to avenue with watch factories. While Swiss and German watchmaking now stand shoulder to shoulder as leaders of the horological pack, their modern histories could not be more different. The division of Germany after World War II saw Eastern Germany held under Soviet rule. Under these terms, many German manufactures, across several industries, were consolidated under state-owned companies.

For Glashütte, the city’s watch brands were consolidated under one company – VEB (which means state-owned) Glashütte Uhrenbetriebe. It produced timepieces for distribution and sale in the Soviet Union from the 1950s till the noughties when Swatch Group bought the brand over.

While Glashütte Original, as it is now known, has developed a modern reputation for high-end dress watches that reflect the austere stylings that German watchmakers tend to utilise, it switches thing up this year with a new tool watch-inspired collection. Aptly named Spezialist, the collection debuts with three models that, for now, fulfil a specialist divers’ niche.

Ode to the Past

The flagship model of the range is the Spezialist SeaQ 1969, a watch that would be just at home in Glashütte Original’s Vintage collection as it is in the Spezialist range. Limited to 69 pieces, the watch is a faithful re-creation of the Spezimatic Type RP TS 200, a dive watch that was made by Glashütte Uhrenbetriebe in 1969.