Watch of the Week: Glashütte Original PanoReserve

When it comes to watchmaking, each country that is a major force in the industry has a style of their own, but perhaps one of the most distinct is the one found in Glashütte, Germany. A watch that is evidence of this is the Glashütte Original PanoReserve.

Yes, there are many watches made by Glashütte Original that are far more complex than the PanoReserve, but in all its modesty it is this watch that puts forward that Glashütte-style so beautiful and pure. The basis of this is the movement, manufacture caliber 65-01, which is dominated by a three-quarter plate. Normally covering up so much of the movement is not necessarily attractive, but with the beautiful Glashütte stripe finish, screwed gold chatons and beveled edges, it has become a calling card for fine, German watchmaking. In fact, it offers a visual balance for the eye-catcher of the movement, that beautiful balance, with duplex swan-neck fine adjustment and hand-engraved balance bridge.

The front of the PanoReserve shows how balanced a non-symmetrical dial design can be. The dial for the hours and minutes is cut into by a large sub-dial showing the seconds. It is very straight forward in design, which is also a very German thing to do, but not at all easy to accomplish. While minimalistic isn’t the correct term, in these designs every dash, numeral or hour marker matters. Less is more, but it is far more difficult to make a dial less.

The legibility of this watch is supreme. Not only for the hours and the minutes, but also due to the big date, and the power reserve indicator which gives this watch part of its name. By displaying this vertical, it is perfectly integrated into the design of the watch. It almost looks like an inverted metronome, but instead of telling you the beat of this watch (which is a modern 4Hz) it is displaying the power reserve. The background for all this is a beautiful galvanized matt blue dial.

With its 40mm stainless steel case the PanoReserve is well proportioned, yet at the same time feels substantial. It is like you can feel the build quality by simply wearing the watch on your wrist, and that too is a typical Glashütte treat!