Introducing the Meistersinger Circularis with the Brand’s Own Movement, Calibre MSH01 (Specs & Price)

For more than 10 years Meistersinger has been making single-hand watches and they’ve gained name & fame for this unique attribute. When any one asks for a watch with one single hand, most connoisseurs will immediately think of this German brand, that was founded not too long ago, in 2001. Their latest model, the Meistersinger Circularis, comes with the recognizable looks and with a new movement: Meistersinger’s bespoke 5-Day manually wound movement, calibre MSH01.

Together with MeisterSinger’s long-standing cooperation partner in Switzerland, they designed this new ‘proprietary’ movement, entirely from scratch. The aesthetics are very impressive, as are the specifications. This movement has be specifically designed with the purpose of displaying time with a very long single hand, and to meet that precision a dial train with spring wheel was integrated in the movement in order to minimize the backlash of the hand. Calibre MSH01 will gradually make its appearance into the Meistersinger collection.

But there’s more! Based on the looks and specifications it’s safe to assume that Meistersinger’s calibre MSH01 is co-created with the Johannes Jahnke and his team, and similar to that used in the Christopher Ward C9 Harrison 5-Day Automatic. Meistersinger’s variant is a manually wound version, and has the aforementioned spring wheel for extra precision of the ling hour hand. Both movements boast a 5-day power reserve, that comes from two main spring barrels, which have been connected in series. This ensures a long, and stable supply of power to the going train and central hour hand, and thus a stable chronometric performance.

The shape of the extremely large bridge is unique for calibre MSH01, and was designed by Manfred Brassler, Meistersinger’s founder and CEO, who has also designed the face and the case of a watch.The immense and rather unusually shaped single bridge features a beautiful circular côte de Genève striping, that has been rhodium-plated, and features mirror-polished bevelled edges, blued screws and gilded engravings.

The Circularis is fitted with a new extra-large crown for easy winding. The stainless steel case measures 43mm in diameter, and is water resistant to 50 meters. In front is a domed sapphire crystal, the screw-down case-back features a flat sapphire crystal. Several design cues have been redesigned, like the hour digits, which are now in a finer serif typeface. The dial now features a circular recess in the centre, which gives a nice interplay with the sunburst pattern on both the blue and silver-white dials.

The Meistersinger Circularis will be available as of October 2014 with three different choices of dials: sunburst silver-white, sunburst sapphire blue, and ivory. The Circularis comes either on an alligator leather strap with double folding clasp, or on a steel mesh bracelet. Meistersinger’s newest is the first step in a magnificent new development of being unattached to the hegemony of the Swiss watch industry. It is available for CHF 4980,00 (before taxes).

Specifications Meistersinger Circularis

• Case: stainless steel, 43mm, sapphire crystal on both side, 50 meters water resistant
• Movement: proprietary manually wound movement, calibre MSH01, bridge rhodium-plated with côtes circulaire (circular graining), 27 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 120-hour power reserve via two in-series mainspring barrels, temperature-blued screws
• Strap: alligator leather strap with double folding clasp