New watch brand alert: Kallinich Claeys releases Einser Zentralsekunde

From a brand new independent from Glashutte, we introduce the Kallinich Claeys with their first release – the Einser Zentralsekunde.

I was alerted to look at this new maison by the former CEO of A. Lange & Söhne, Fabien Krone, who expressed his high regard for the duo in a recent WhatsApp message. I made contact with the brand, and here is my thoughts based on email and WhatsApp discussions with Thibault Claeys. Photographs are also supplied by Kallinich Claeys.

New watch brand alert: Kallinich Claeys releases Einser Zentralsekunde

The Kallinich Claeys Einser Zentralsekunde has a retail price of EUR 24,590 before taxes. Two models are available viz the Einser Zentralsekunde Founders Edition – Limited to 8 pieces (currently sold out) and the Einser Zentralsekunde – Limited to 22 pieces (also sold out). In addition to this, 10 special editions are made for Hong Kong, in partnership with A Watch Company, and will feature a brown dial. The next release is planned to be presented in 2025.

Johannes Kallinich and Thibault Claeys

This is another interesting alumni story from A. Lange & Söhne. Just like the friendship formed between Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat who had met in Geneva circa 2007, and continued with their career with Lange in Glashütte. Both went on to establish the independent watchmaking house of Petermann Bédat.

The pair of Johannes Kallinich and Thibault Claeys also started working in the same workshops in Glashütte, though many years after. Johannes is German, will be 31 this year, had started his watchmaking career in Lange’s Saxonia department in 2013. He rose to head of the Lange 1 department in 2016, before moving on to work on Lange chronographs. Thibault, soon to be 28, went to watchmaking school in Belgium where he hails from. He joined the Lange 1815 department in 2019, after his graduation. The two friends decided to strike out on their own and began their journey as independents in 2022 when they launched the Kallinich Claeys brand. The first project from the new maison is the Eiser Zentralsekunde. The name “Einser” is derived from “Eins”, which means “one” in German, and “Zentralsekunde” translates to “Central Seconds”.

The Einser Zentralsekunde

This first release is offered in two versions. The first being the Founders Edition. This is a special 8 piece limited edition with a 3 dimensional geometric shaped central medallion with relief engraving in black. This medallion contrasts nicely with the silver hued tremblage finished insert and the blue donut shaped dial surrounding it. The second version is a 22 piece edition which is the same, except that instead of a geometric shaped medallion, it is crafted with hand-guilloché. Both editions are already sold out, but as we publish this, the 10 piece Hong Kong Edition is still available, though we do not have more information on this edition. We thought this article would be instructive to give you a glimpse of the craftsmanship and skill level of these two young men. This will serve as an indication of what future works from the team might look like. With this in mind, we take a closer look at both these novelties.

As mentioned, both watches are exactly the same, with the exception of the medallion on the center of the dial. Both are three handed time only watch with a power reserve indicator. A quick glance on the dial tells a tale of a very clean three hand watch design. Where is the power reserve indicator? Well, to find it, you have to look at the case side by the 9 o’clock position. A small sapphire glass window allows the indicator to be read. This is a concept similar to what Ferdinand Berthoud has done with a port window to view the fusée and chain from the case side.

The case

The case is made in stainless steel, and measures 41mm in diameter. The case is made by RP Uhrgehäuse and is a three piece design. The case middle is machined from a single piece of stainless steel milled as a massive piece with the lugs. The lugs feature a step on the edge and flow seamlessly from the case middle, curving in a very aesthetically pleasing manner. The front bezel and the rear bezel bearing the sapphire glasses are finished with a high polish, while the case middle carries additional machining to sculpt the surface into bands which are finished in matte to contrast to the polished raised sections. This juxtaposition of different shapes, steps and finishings gives the case some dimensionality and improves the overall look.

The case measures 11mm in height. The crown is large and knurled with a hash pattern, for better grip to manipulate for winding and time setting.

As mentioned, the power reserve indicator is shown on the case side, and features a curved sapphire glass to allow a peek into a linear gauge. This also allows for a partial view of the movement. This arrangement is unusual, and carries the additional benefit that it does not interfere with the dial layout, which remains very clean and uncluttered.

The idea of providing a power reserve gauge on the case side to allow for an uncluttered dial is brilliant, but inserting a small curved sapphire glass window into the case side is technically very challenging. Thibault tells us that even for such a small crystal piece, it carries many technical details which the case maker is able to execute perfectly.

The dial and hands

A lot of thought has gone into the dial. It is a four part dial, comprising of a donut shaped chapter ring carrying the hour and minute markings, a central medallion, with engravings, and an insert bearing a plaque with the brand name. The chapter ring is made from brass, while the medallion and insert are in 999 silver, and the brand plaque is in brass. All the raw pieces are milled in-house by Jonnanes and Thibault and then sent out to trade specialists for the engraving work and pad printing.

The chapter ring in blue is outsourced to Cador, a dial specialist. The milled brass chapter ring is sent to Cador. First the texture is embossed, and then the white markings are pad printed in a clean room environment to avoid any tiny specs of dust on the paint. After this work is complete, the dial returns to Glashütte where it is milled to fit together perfectly with the other parts.

The second part of the dial is what we call the central medallion. In the Founders Edition, this is hand engraved to provide a relief profile of geometric shapes. This pattern is made cut individually by hand. On the other version, it features a hand cut guilloché pattern. Both are then galvanised in black and then covered in lacquer. The center piece, which Kallinich Claeys call the “Eccentric Circle” is a disc which is hand engraved with the traditional tremblage technique. It is then rhodium plated to achieve the silvery finish of the surface, resulting in a beautiful, irregular and rough texture which is surrounded by a polished lip. Finally, the plaque carrying the brand name is screwed into the center of this medallion. This brass plaque is made and finished by the duo themselves. The plate boasts of hand polished chamfers, cirumferential graining and straight graining for the upper surface. It is then galvanised with rhodium and sent to Cador to print the name.

All engraving work, including guilloché, tremblage and the engraving on the balance cock is done by none other than Helmut Wagner, who is a long time exponent of the art and had cut his teeth as the chief engraver at A. Lange & Söhne and later Moritz Grossman.

The hands are in steel, and are milled by a contractor, but completely hand finished in-house. Of particular note is the polished inner and outer chamfer, circumferential graining on the side with straight graining on the top. This gives the hands an exceptional dimensionality with good contrast. The hands are silver over a dark, mostly black and grey dial, and the legibility is excellent. However, there is no lume applied, so reading the time in the dark will prove to be challenging, though this is not unusual for a dress watch.

The movement: Kaliber KC001.1

And the pièce de résistance: the movement. The movement is developed from ground up. The essential elements of the Glashütte school of watchmaking, perhaps exemplified by A. Lange & Söhne and Moritz Grossmann, are evident throughout. The use of untreated German Silver is a key identifier, though here, Johannes and Thibault chose an innovative approach to use stainless steel for the differential bridge and anchor bridge. This should provide a nice contrast to the bridges after some years of gaining patina. The untreated German Silver will take on a warm glow, almost champagne like hue, while the steel parts will remain silvery white.

The execution of the three quarter plate concept is another tell tale of the Glashütte school. As is the use of gold chatons to hold the jewels, and hand engraved balance cock. Though here Johannes and Thibault again chose to make a departure from tradition, by electing not to go with the traditional flower motif, but with a wide striped pattern, also known as shark gills for a minimalistic and more modern look. This engraving is also executed by Helmut Wagner.

The bridges feature good anglage and contain 19 inward angles in total. All hand filed and polished by Thibault. The frosted finish is made by sand blasting. This contrasts nicely with the polished countersinks, chamfers and high polished elements on the movement. The wheels are open worked with the spokes finished with polished chamfers. Thibault tells us that they learned the finishing technique of filing and hand polishing from Philippe Narbel, who is a specialist angler and skeleton specialist from L’Abbaye.

Of note is the bridge carrying the power reserve differential which look like a page out of the design of the Lange Zeitwerk, though Thibault assures me that this was not their inspiration. The steel bridge carries a high polished anglage with a straight grained surface and polished countersinks for the chatons. Excellent finishing, and the graining shows off the high polished differential wheels and transmission wheels of the Up/Down indication system. Also of interest are the anchor bridge and parts of the regulating system that are black polished. And every screw that is flame blued individually.

The steel gears and mainspring barrel feature chamfered teeth which are cut one tooth at a time with a Schaublin lathe. This is a manual process which is painstakingly slow and requires a steady hand to handle the machine with good precision. And is unlike the CNC machines which is used to mill the main plate and bridges.

From what we can see by examining the high resolution photographs provided, the finishing is at a very high level, and is a demonstration of the versatility of these two men in their craftsmanship. The movement has 45 hours of power reserve and beats at the classical 18,000 bph with a stop seconds mechanism.

Initial conclusions

Overall, these are very impressive watches. Both versions of the watches show that the makers are well accomplished individuals who have put their skills into good use and collaborated effectively to produce such magnificent watches. The design is well thought out, and intelligently laid out with good use of the high end hand finishing techniques to showcase haute horlogerie.

The dial is a piece of handwork virtuosity. It is very well execute to showcase several techniques and craftsmanship. It is almost perfect, but as a nitpick, the aesthetics seem to lack the last bit of je ne sais quo to take it to the next level. We think perhaps it may be the colour choice of black, blue and silver which does not quite come together harmoniously. Or perhaps there are just too many textural cues that does not allow the eye to settle on one point to focus on. But not being designers, we cannot quite put our finger on what is not right. Do not get us wrong, this is still a beautiful dial. It just lacks that tiny last bit to be truly exceptional. And when coupled to the beautifully machined case, with all the nuanced details found throughout, this makes for a magnificent watch. The 41mm is close to right sized for many men, and wears well, as seen in the wrist shots of the watchmakers’ wrists.

Of course, we are not forgetting the magnificent movement. Very well conceived, very nicely finished with a showcase of many haute horlogerie techniques. In fact, it is the part of the watch we love the best.

So overall, a superbly solid show by Johannes and Thibault for their first watch. One which provides us with a good read that both are very highly skilled watchmakers who are well motivated and should be a bright star in our horology universe.

Thibault tells us that they have just started to build the production watches for the 40 pieces they released, of which 30 are already spoken for. They had spent the first two years making the components needed. And they are currently completing the first assembly of the components. After the first assembly, each watch is completely dis-assembled, and the bridges are finished completely. The entire watch then goes through a second assembly. This method is used by inter alia A. Lange & Söhne, and we think Johannes and Thibault might have picked this up during their time there. The second assembly protects the final finishing from marks which may occur during first assembly (gears, spokes, anchor, regulating system and balance cock) and ensure that the oil and grease remain fresh.

The maison currently has three employees – Johannes, Thibault and Johannes’s sister who helps with the finishing and design. They are looking to increase this to a total of four to cope with the large amount of handwork required to execute the watches.