The New Moritz Grossmann Art Edition with Painter Max Frintrop

With Christine Hutter at the helm, Moritz Grossmann – an indie brand that since 2008 pays tribute to one of the pioneers of Glashütte’s watchmaking – has consistently showcased its prowess in crafting technically sophisticated timepieces. The brand has also impressed with exquisitely crafted dials created using time-honoured techniques. This year marks an intriguing evolution as Moritz Grossmann teams up with a contemporary artist, Max Frintrop, to release sixteen one-of-a-kind watches, each featuring a dial incorporating fragments from the floor of the artist’s studio.

When creating art, particularly the dynamic splash paintings of Max Frintrop, a chaotic symphony of paint splatters finds its way to the studio floor. These paint drops settle where they land, drying and hardening over time. These accidental marks accumulate layer over layer, forming a spontaneous and unintended abstract artwork. With the utmost care, a thin, half-millimetre layer of dried paint was removed to grace the dials of this new Moritz Grossmann exclusive collection, which comprises eight pieces in polished rose gold and eight in stainless steel Benu cases with the patented crown-and-pusher mechanism. 

The Moritz Grossmann Art Edition three-part watch case measures 41mm in diameter and 11.35mm thick; it is topped with a sapphire crystal with AR coating and has a sapphire crystal caseback engraved with Max Frintrop’s signature. The crown and the movement restart pusher at 4 o’clock are crafted to match the case material.

The artistic dials invite closer inspection to discover what Frintrop describes as a lunar landscape pockmarked with craters – a powerful symbol of impermanence and persistence. For him, it represents the physical manifestation of metaphysical questions, which art continuously seeks to explore and express. 

Manually crafted from gold or polished steel, the lance-shaped hour and minute hands indicate the passage of time with their needle-sharp tips. There are no indices, and there’s nothing dialside to point to Moritz Grossmann, yet the case design is recognizable to the knowledgeable person.

Each Moritz Grossmann Art Edition Max Frintrop series watch is powered by the in-house, manually wound calibre 100.1, visible through the exhibition caseback. The brand’s pillar movement is built with 198 components, including 20 jewels, three of which are in screwed gold chatons with white sapphires. The signature plate with broad horizontal ribbing, the three-band snailing on the ratchet wheel, and the distinctive 14.2mm Grossmann 18,000 vibrations/hour balance with four inertia screws and two poising screws held by a hand-engraved balance cock are on display. For this edition, the movement forgoes the small seconds display but retains the patented winder-and-pusher system, made to prevent dust from entering the case. Pulling out the crown activates the stop-balance mechanism, but when released, the crown jumps back into place. The hands can then be set to the correct time, and the movement can be reactivated by pressing the pusher.

The Moritz Grossmann Art Edition Max Frintrop watches are offered on hand-stitched Kudu leather straps with prong buckles in gold or stainless steel. The straps come in various colours to complement the artistic dials. This edition is limited to eight watches per case material, costing EUR 55,400 for rose gold and EUR 39,500 for stainless steel.

For more information, visit grossmann-uhren.com.