Moritz Grossmann Strikes A Chord With The Tillman Electric Cello Watch

Have you ever stopped to wonder what music does in movies? Have you ever considered what a movie experience would be without an intriguing soundtrack to support or even elevate the scene? Music evokes emotions and can enhance those on the silver screen big time! Take the scenes where Heath Ledger’s Joker is wreaking havoc on Gotham City, supported by the sinister film score. Famous composers like John Williams or Hans Zimmer immediately come to mind, but today we focus on Martin Tillman. Or rather, Moritz Grossmann focuses on Martin Tillman, as the high-end German manufacturer has collaborated with the expert cellist and music composer. The result is the delectable Moritz Grossmann Tillman Electric Cello Watch, which raises the question: which soundtrack best matches this watch?

Martin Tillman is an exceptional artist and film score composer who has worked on multiple Hollywood blockbusters. His track record includes box office giants such as Total Recall, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean, and, as you might have guessed from the intro, The Dark Knight. Working with some of the biggest composers in the industry, such as the aforementioned Hans Zimmer, Tillman is the one who created the eerie single notes to underline the Joker’s twisted character. It’s a brilliant soundtrack and one that sets the tone for arguably one of the best movies in the Batman franchise.

After Tillman had a chance encounter with Moritz Grossmann’s founder and CEO, Christine Hutter, the two had an idea to collaborate and combine their shared passions for music and time into a watch. After all, in watchmaking, the rhythm of the balance wheel is essential to making a watch work, similar to a musical composition needing a baseline or heartbeat. Selecting the Moritz Grossmann Backpage as the canvas, the result is a highly limited watch with an almost fully exposed mechanical movement. The case is made of 18k white gold and measures 40.5mm across and 11.3mm in height. It comes with Moritz Grossmann’s clever crown-and-pusher system to eliminate any play of the hands while setting the time. And, of course, you get a sapphire crystal covering both sides of the watch.

But without a doubt, your eyes will be drawn in by the inverted and semi-exposed calibre 107.0. The only thing ‘obstructing’ the view is the half-circled hour track with small seconds sub-dial, executed in a very lovely champagne tone. This holds applied black indices and is surrounded by a minute track printed on a sloped flange. Time is indicated by handcrafted polished steel hands for the hours, minutes and seconds, with the central two having a luminous HyCeram insert. For the rest, you can witness the superb levels of finishing of the front-mounted Grossmann balance, the hand-engraved balance cock, the violet heat-annealed screws, the German Silver mainplate underneath, the running gear and so on. It’s a work of art with a contemporary touch, perfectly in tune with Tillman’s work on the electric cello, his instrument of choice most of the time.

Speaking of the electric cello, this can be found on the reverse side of the watch. The silhouette of it is recessed into the mainplate and given a tremblage finish, where the finger that runs from left to right that stops the balance wheel when the crown is pulled represents the musician’s bow. Here you can also see the complex system for the stop-seconds mechanism and the release pusher. The movement runs at a slow rate of 18,000vph and delivers 42 hours of running time when fully wound by hand. The finishing on this side of the watch is done in the typical Moritz Grossmann style, with frosted or brushed surfaces paired with anglage, gold chatons, heat-annealed screws and hand-engraved decorations and script.

The Moritz Grossmann Tillman Electric Cello Watch is limited to just four pieces, all directly available through Martin Tillman. The watch is worn on a handmade Kudu leather strap fitted with a polished stainless steel pin buckle. Such a watch understandably doesn’t come cheap, as it has a Swiss RRP of EUR 37,300, including VAT.

For inquiries about the watch, please contact [email protected] or visit GrossmannUhren.com