Grieb & Benzinger Blue Wave based on vintage Minevra column wheel chrono

Grieb & Benzinger are known for unique high-end complicated wristwatches. Their newest watch is the Blue Wave with a beautiful skeletonized vintage Minerva column wheel chronograph movement.

Grieb & Benzinger create unique watches based on historical classic movements and acknowledged masterpieces from the period between 1880 and 1930. Over the course of time, these magnificent movements from brands like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Minerva are just waiting to be rediscovered. And that’s exactly what Grieb & Benzinger intends to do with their Platinum Editions.

The new Blue Wave is such a watch. Based on a beautiful vintage Minerva mono-poussoir (or single button) chronograph with a column wheel, they created a very special watch. The movement is probably from 1925 and after it’s been in the hands of master watchmaker Hermann Grieb and master engraver Jochen Benzinger it’s ready to be enjoyed for many, many years again.

The demand for rare, high-quality chronographs has increased. Personally i’ve been searching the internet for the past few year for a beautiful mono-poussoir chronograph with column wheel and i know it’s hard to find such a movement. So Grieb & Benzinger’s new watch, the Blue Wave, is something that makes my heart beat faster.

In its heyday, Minerva was one of the finest and best chronograph manufacturers in the world. Chronographs had already been in existence since around 1800, however Minerva was one of the first chronograph makers to incorporate a minute counter. After a complete restoration, the movement is hand skeletonized and hand-engraved. All 34 steel screws were polished by hand and blued over an open flame. After the skeletonization the main plate is guilloche decorated and coated with blue platinum (a typical trademark of Grieb & Benzinger).

The bridges and cocks are rhodium-plated and also guilloche decorated and the hand-engraved balance cock is rhodium-plated and rose gold-plated. Even the wheels are rose gold plated. This piece unique looks marvelous and with a 18 ct rose gold case with a diameter of 46mm I think it’s a sheer beauty!

There will only be one lucky watch aficionado in the world, to have the pleasure of wearing this exclusive watch on his (or her) wrist. The price for the Grieb & Benzinger Blue Wave piece unique is € 87,500