Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar Salmon Limited Edition (Live Pics & Price)
The latest iteration of GO’s perpetual calendar sheds its classical airs and dons a more contemporary suit with a stunning salmon-coloured dial and dark blue accents.
Glashütte Original‘s Senator Perpetual Calendar has been in the brand’s collection for 22 years, a triumph of mechanics and design with one of the best perpetual calendar displays around. Evolving over the years on and below deck with aesthetic tweaks and upgraded movements, the last overhaul was in 2017 with the Senator Excellence and the incorporation of calibre 36 and its 100-hour power reserve and silicon balance spring. Although we tend to associate bold colours with GO’s Sixties and Seventies collections, today the Saxon brand unveils a very special Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar limited edition of 100 pieces of its QP with a stunning salmon dial with blue accents. The impeccable legibility of the calendar functions, which has been a constant of this QP throughout its lifetime, is accentuated with the dramatic contrast provided by the attractive rose opaline dial and crisp blue details.
Evolving since 1999
GO’s Senator collection is populated with classical watches exuding a certain air of august conservatism. Since its appearance in 1999, the Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar has undergone several evolutions. The last revision was in 2017, with the incorporation of calibre 36 and a redesigned case. If you are interested in tracking the evolution of the QP, don’t miss Brice’s recap of all the changes the case and movement have undergone over the past 22 years.
Beyond the more classical silvery dials associated with the Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar, over the past couple of years we’ve seen the QP with a contemporary semi-openworked dial and even a Bucherer blue dial. However, the model launched today is perhaps the most eye-catching and dashing version to date. It is by no means the first salmon dial in the brand’s repertoire – last year GO launched the PanoMaticLunar with a beautiful rose opaline dial – but it is undoubtedly the boldest colour combination to emerge in the more staid and conservative Senator Excellence family.
galvanic rose opaline dial
Although the display, the case and movement are identical to the 2017 model, the new dial colour gives the watch a very different personality. As our readers know, Glashütte Original is one of the few watchmakers with its very own dial manufacture, located in Pforzheim. In a departure from the more standard treatments to achieve a salmon-coloured dial, using a rose gold-plated base or salmon-coloured lacquer, the technique here is the result of galvanisation. Galvanising is an electrolytic deposit of thin metallic layers to protect surfaces from corrosion, which can be used to colour dials. The colour obtained by the artisans at Pforzheim is close to salmon but is more metallic and changes a great deal depending on the ambient light. Its chameleonic nature will stray anywhere from a silky pale pink to a richer, more intense rose gold tone (salmon).
The subtle matte granular surface of the dial hosts a peripheral blue railway minutes/seconds track with no Arabic numerals and thicker tracks at 5-minute intervals. Another novelty concerns the Roman numerals on the dial. Earlier editions often featured printed Roman numerals at XII and VI, but this newcomer uses applied blue numerals from I to XII. Again, the press release images make the blue accents far more ‘electric’ than they are in real life. Our photos reveal that the hand-applied blue numerals are darker and far more subtle. The hour and minute hands are poire-style and blued, as is the central seconds hand with its double-G counterweight.
One of the most straightforward perpetual calendars to read, thanks to the window apertures for the calendar functions on the dial, the latest combination of colours makes the dial even more legible. The five apertures on the dial for the calendar functions retain their original positions, with the symmetrically arranged weekday and month windows aligned horizontally at 10 and 2 o’clock. The elegant double-stepped frames of these windows echo the larger window for the brand’s hallmark Panorama Date (double-disc date) at 4 o’clock.
Another shared feature is that the day, month, and date all use blue backgrounds with white inscriptions for heightened legibility. The leap year indication at noon is also recessed and snailed and relies on a blued hand. Placed between 7 and 8 o’clock is the moon phase indicator, also with a blue background and stars and a golden moon.
Stainless Steel case
Made of stainless steel and measuring 42mm across with a height of 12.8mm, the case is polished. The short lugs, which hold the blue Louisiana alligator strap in place, ensure a snug fit. Another user-friendly aspect of this perpetual calendar is the pusher on the caseband to adjust the day, date and month at the same time. Technically, if the watch were kept wound, it would provide accurate calendar indications until the year 2100.
Calibre 36-12
First used inside the 2017 Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar, GO’s base calibre 36 delivers a beefy power reserve of at least 100 hours. And for good reason. Window apertures with jumping disc displays consume much more power than traditional displays using hands. To keep them advancing, they need to store a month’s worth of energy that can be released at a precise instant. The increased power reserve, stored in one spring barrel, keeps the functions fuelled while the anti-magnetic silicon balance spring enhances precision. An innovative bayonet mounting to secure the movement in the case makes the watch more robust and prepared for everyday wear.
The sapphire caseback offers a view of the refined finishing of the automatic movement with its newly-designed skeletonised rotor (the double-G logo is now fully opened). Typical Glashütte decorations and construction features like the three-quarter plate with Glashütte stripes, the hand-engraved balance cock, the delicate perlage finishing, blued screws and decorative finishes on the wheels and rotor track reveal the strong Saxon character of the brand.
Furthermore, like all Senator Excellence models, the watch has undergone 24 days of comprehensive testing and has a special engraving on the caseback to guarantee the quality of each watch. Owners can consult the test scores for your watch on a dedicated online portal.
Availability & Price
The Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar Rose Opaline is limited to 100 pieces, available from the end of October exclusively at Glashütte Original Boutiques and authorised dealers. The retail price of the watch on the blue alligator strap is EUR 20,500. It is also available on a stainless steel bracelet for EUR 21,700.
For more information, please visit the Glashütte Original website.
