Hands-On With The New Holthinrichs Deconstructed With Aventurine And Meteorite Dials
In May of this year, Holthinrichs introduced its Deconstructed model. The all-titanium, 3D-printed, and hand-finished piece looked more like a concept watch than anything else. But to many people’s surprise, you could (and still can) actually buy that watch. It looks wild with its coarse finish, open-worked dial, and the unique way the strap and bracelet connect to the signature skeletonized lugs. Now, Michiel Holthinrichs is back with two new versions of the Deconstructed. This time, the watch features a dial made of either aventurine or meteorite.
The original Deconstructed looks exactly like the watch that Michiel, who’s an architect by trade, always wanted to make since he founded and launched the Holthinrichs brand in 2016. It’s extreme, different, and unique in many ways. If you’re not yet familiar, I recommend you to read Thor’s article on it. As an owner of a bespoke Holthinrichs Ornament, he takes you through all the meticulous details. Today, though, it’s time to present to you the continuation of the Deconstructed collection. So we visited Michiel’s workshop in Delft, which is only a 15-minute drive away from the Fratello office.
Damiaen on the left and Michiel on the right
The workshop and the original Deconstructed
The Holthinrichs workshop is located on the corner of one of Delft’s characteristic canals. When you enter, it feels more like a living room than anything else. The wooden floors squeak, and there are several workbenches with good lighting, but the rest of the place is quite dark. Our photographer Morgan and I were warmly welcomed by Michiel and his business partner Damiaen. These two passionate and well-dressed guys certainly didn’t need much incentive to start talking about their new project.
First, we took a quick look at the original Deconstructed. The all-titanium construction looks smaller in person than in pictures, and it also feels extremely light. Michiel showed us how the raw parts come out of the 3D printer and that a lot of hand-finishing is necessary to make them look presentable. It’s almost unbelievable that each bracelet link consists of only one piece. The great thing is, though, that the end links can be made to measure specifically for your wrist size. We might do a more in-depth hands-on article about the first Deconstructed model, but for now, we’ll move on to the two new versions.
Featherlight with aventurine and meteorite dials
Those two new Deconstructed watches are, of course, derived from that very extreme first version. The new ones are, in a way, a bit more toned down, but they’re still very impressive. Their 3D-printed case is half a millimeter larger than that of the original Deconstructed, and it comes in at 39mm in diameter. It’s still very slim at 9.8mm thick, and it spans 47mm from skeletonized lug to skeletonized lug. But the most impressive feature here is the weight — or lack thereof. Without a strap, the watch only weighs only about 20 grams. A strap will add about 10 grams to that, so the complete thing is featherlight on the wrist.
For the new Deconstructed, you can choose between an aventurine and a meteorite dial. The aventurine dial is kept very clean so that you can fully focus on gazing into that starry night sky. The dial of the meteorite version has an open-worked sub-seconds dial at 6 o’clock, through which you get a peek at the movement below. Both versions feature skeletonized hands, sloped baton-shaped indices, Michiel’s signature at 12 o’clock, and “Made in Delft” at 6 o’clock.
The meteorite dial is made of a piece of the Muonionalusta. With its approximate age of 4.56 billion years, it is the oldest known meteorite to have impacted Earth. It has a beautiful Widmanstätten pattern, a crystallized structure formed by billions of years of cooling.
Same movement, different finish
While the dials are very different, the movements inside are actually quite similar. Both new Deconstructed versions house the hand-wound HW-M01 caliber, which is based on the architecture of the Peseux 7001. Half of the movement components are made in the Netherlands, and a lot of research and development went into achieving a higher stiffness and better timekeeping. The bridges are made of German silver, and there’s a variable-inertia balance wheel with white gold weights. In terms of movement specs, the two models don’t differ from each other. Both tick at a 21,600vph frequency and offer a 42-hour power reserve.
The movements in both versions are meticulously finished by hand and decorated with laser-etched details. But, of course, Michiel makes sure that the finishing of each movement reflects the particular dial design. That is why the aventurine version features circular Côtes de Genève, which mimics the orbits of the planetary system. The meteorite version features a hand-applied scraped pattern with a more natural look. And if you have any further wishes in terms of finishing, Michiel is more than happy to help you out.
Anything is possible
The original Deconstructed and the new aventurine and meteorite versions show very well what the brand is capable of. The new versions look a bit more conventional, and also, in terms of price, they’re a bit more affordable than the €35,000 original. The aventurine version comes on an alligator strap and sells for €16,900. The meteorite version comes on a polyurethane strap, the color and transparency of which are up to you. That watch sells for €18,800, and both watches are limited to 20 pieces. For more information, please visit the official Holthinrichs website.
The great thing about ordering a watch from Holthinrichs is that anything is possible. For a large part of our visit, we weren’t actually talking about the watches at hand. Michiel was more occupied with revealing what he still had in store for the future. We also already saw some sketches and prototypes of what’s to come. And I can tell you that the future definitely looks exciting, both on the less affordable and more affordable side of things. So I recommend you stay tuned!
What do you think of the new Deconstructed in aventurine and meteorite? Let me know in the comments below.
