Hands On: The Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar
The Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar is a beautifully designed annual calendar. Today, we’ll look closer at this 18-carat red gold beauty that blends functionality with an elegant layout. It features a stunning movement that’s put on display on the flip side.
Glashütte Original is a brand that brings back fond memories. I was in Chicago with my family over 20 years ago and recall visiting watch shops with my dad. The German brand was still relatively new to the US market, and ADs were scarce. We found one on Michigan Avenue, and my dad fell in love with the Navigator Senator with flyback seconds. Even then, the watch impressed me with its finishing and build quality. Today’s watch is of the dressy persuasion, but the PanoMaticCalendar promises to bring even more refinement than the pilot’s watch from decades ago.
The Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar
The Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar is a 42mm by 49.4mm red gold watch with an annual calendar function. It’s equipped with sapphire crystals on the front and back. The watch has a water resistance rating of 30 meters and comes standard on a brown Louisiana alligator strap. The brand offers many strap options; buyers can choose from a gold pin buckle or folding clasp. The latter, due to the extra material, costs an additional €2,400.
A well-organized dial with plenty to share
The PanoMaticCalendar contains a bevy of information on its opaline silver dial, but I find it well-designed. The hours and minutes dial is on the upper left of the watch with a traditional seconds subdial. Both of these dials are ridged, and where the hours and minutes indicator opts for red gold hands and indices, the subdial has a blued hand and printed track. Note that the hour and minute hands contain Super-LumiNova.
The upper right portion of the dial shows a moonphase complication. Here, the underlying moon sits within a deeply beveled moon-shaped cutout. The wheel is dark blue and has a gold moon and stars. It even has a scale showing the moon’s progression during the lunar cycle. The lower right dial quadrant has a big date display set inside a red gold frame with two wheels, a hallmark of watches from Glashütte. Finally, the month display is within an arc along the dial’s edge. All told, there’s a lot happening on this dial, but with ample space and thoughtful positioning, it’s one of the better annual calendars I’ve seen.
The 92-09 automatic
When this watch was introduced in 2022, Glashütte Original also debuted a new movement. The PanoMaticCalendar uses the in-house 92-09 automatic caliber. This 53-jewel powerhouse has 100 hours of power reserve and is adjusted for accuracy to six positions. It’s a lovely movement to behold under the sapphire display case back.
The movement boasts old-world finishing techniques but is thoroughly modern. It beats along at 28,800vph and has a silicon balance spring. The oscillating rotor has 21-carat gold elements, which makes it competitive in the high-end dress watch market. Regarding functionality, the crown is used to adjust most of the displays. An included pin adjusts the date during the shortened month of February.
Case
Glashütte Original is one of the premium brands within the Swatch Group’s collection and, therefore, we expect a lovely case. The PanoMaticCalendar delivers with its beautifully brushed case flanks and polished top surfaces. A sculpted and polished bezel sits within the lugs, adding the right level of detail to the overall execution.
On the wrist
The 42mm PanoMaticCalendar isn’t a small watch. Still, Glashütte Original has given the watch wrist-hugging, downward-sloping lugs and a reasonable thickness of 12.4mm. It may rate as large for some of our readers, but we must remember that with complicated watches such as this, the movement demands space. Are smaller, slimmer options available in the premium category? Yes, but the differences in millimeters are small, while the price differences are large.
Final thoughts
The Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar is priced at €30,800 with a pin buckle and €33,200 with a folding clasp. This watch offers serious value when compared to annual calendars from Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Lange & Söhne. Of course, value is subjective, but with a beautiful design and a new movement, there’s a lot to like with this piece.
For more information on the PanoMaticCalendar, visit the official Glashütte Original website.
