Glashütte Original Cherry Blossom: Meissen porcelain and a hundred hours of mechanics

Glashütte Original · Senator Meissen Cherry Blossom

The model in detail

Meet the watch

There is no familiar ring of numerals on the new Senator Meissen Cherry Blossom. Instead, a branch with pink flowers crosses a white surface beneath two gold hands. This October, Glashütte Original and Meissen offer a beautiful alternative to formal classicism: a watch as a small painting. In official photographs, the branch traverses the lower dial while open space above gives the composition room to breathe.

The painting’s base is Meissen porcelain just 0.8 mm thick. The thin disc must be made and painted while remaining intact. Its whiteness provides a calm background for flowers and highlights fine brushwork. We like how the painting can be enjoyed independently of timekeeping, with its own composition and mood. This is a watch chosen by eye, pausing at each petal.

Colours are applied by hand with fine brushes and fixed layer by layer through firing at 900 °C. The dial’s appeal rests on the artist’s work and the manufacturing process. It illustrates collectors’ interest in unusual materials: craftsmanship takes centre stage and cannot be reduced to a colour name. The branches and small Meissen mark reward closer inspection.

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Details and limitations

The interest continues on the reverse. Automatic Calibre 36-16 provides 100 hours of reserve, more than four days when fully wound. A silicon balance spring and 4 Hz frequency complement its modern foundation. The long reserve is particularly convenient when rotating watches: after a few days in the box, immediate resetting may not be necessary.

The transparent back reveals a striped three-quarter plate, a hand-engraved balance cock and a rotor with a gold oscillating weight. This contrast gives the watch conviction: gentle painting in front, disciplined Saxon mechanics behind. Each atelier piece is assembled and regulated entirely by one watchmaker, linking the crafts of painter and mechanic.

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The red-gold case is 40 mm wide and 10.2 mm thick, with a dark blue strap completing the restrained palette. This is an atelier model with manufacturer pricing on request. The main compromise is the absence of hour markers: precise minute reading gives way to a freer painting. As a collection piece, Cherry Blossom is beautiful in its coherence. Both sides invite equal attention.