Weekly Watch Photo – Grönefeld One Hertz Techniek Nocturne

After more then two years of Weekly Watch Photos, we’re now at the 118’s edition of Monochrome’s Weekly Watch Photo. And to celebrate the new design of Monochrome, we go entirely Dutch. Monochrome’s Dutch roots combined with the Dutch watch brand Grönefeld – you know we love the One Hertz – and a Dutch photographer who specialized in watch photos, Bert Buijsrogge. Sounds like a great mix, but I’ll let you be the judge of that. 

Bert’s photos have been featured here before. Just think of the excellent photos he made of the Hautlence HL Ti-02 and the photos he used for his Watch Calendar, like these or these or this one. Besides being a very skilled photographer, Bert also knows how to present watches. He always presents a watch in a certain atmosphere, that always perfectly matches that particular watch. Grönefeld’s latest creation, the One Hertz Techniek Nocturne, is photographed in dark Gotham City like spheres….

This close-up shows the impeccable finish of all movement parts, dial parts and hands. The main plate and bridges are all hand beveled,  sandblasted and DLC coated. Screw heads are of course polished and the dial, power reserve register and winding/setting indicator are all finished by hand.

These three parts, dial, power reserve and winding/setting register, are first CNC machined, laser engraved, deburred – by hand -, sandblasted – by hand -, angled – by hand – and this has to be done in three steps of going from ‘rough’ to finer, simply because stainless steel is so much harder then for instance German Silver, that is often used. The flat surfaces are circular grained – of course also by hand – and than screwed on the holders. Finishing this dial, power reserve and winding/setting register cost more than a day all together. And one mistake, and you can start at the beginning again. That’s how much time just these three small parts cost… Now imagine how much time these bridges will take!

As said before, finishing German silver movement parts would still take a lot of time, but these stainless steel bridges and other parts cost much more time and skills! But it also offers a bright reflection that German silver bridges don’t offer. Finishing and assembling a One Hertz costs around one month of labor from a very skilled watchmaker. The new One Hertz Techniek and One Hertz Techniek Nocture… yes, that takes even more time.

The One Hertz Techniek comes at a price of € 49,500 Euro before tax, the Techniek Nocturne has a retail price of € 52,500 Euro before tax. Please visit the Grönefeld website for more info about their timepieces and retailers.

Many thanks to Bert Buijsrogge for his spectacular photos! Here’s a link to Bert’s website.