The Art of Timing, Reimagined in Porcelain
Glashütte Original and Meissen craft the Senator Meissen, a rare fusion of watchmaking mastery and porcelain artistry.
When two of Germany’s oldest workshops decide to collaborate, the result is less a partnership than a meeting of philosophies.
Glashütte Original and Meissen share an instinct for precision, but their materials could not be more different: metal and porcelain, engineering and art.
The Senator Meissen collection brings the two together in a trio of limited-edition watches that reveal what happens when centuries of skill are distilled into a few quiet centimetres of beauty.
Saxony’s Twin Legacies
The towns of Glashütte and Meissen have long carried the weight of their crafts. Glashütte has defined German watchmaking since 1845; Meissen, founded in 1710, was Europe’s first porcelain manufactory.
This year, the watchmaker marks 180 years of history, while Meissen celebrates 315; a symmetry that feels more poetic than planned. Both names are shorthand for discipline and longevity, for the idea that refinement comes only with time.
The Senator Meissen is the natural intersection of these legacies: a watch that combines horological precision with the delicate unpredictability of hand-painted porcelain.
Porcelain at the Heart
At the centre of each model lies a porcelain dial, painted and fired with the same care given to a museum piece. The process begins with an ultra-thin disc fired at 1,400 degrees Celsius, producing a perfectly smooth surface.
Meissen’s artisans then paint decoration and Roman numerals by hand, layer by layer, with each firing at 900 degrees, sealing the work in colour and permanence.
Two versions feature the Mystic Maison motif in Meissen grey; one set against white porcelain, the other on celadon green, a tone that recalls the earliest Chinese glazes.
A third model, limited to just eight pieces, replaces restraint with exuberance: a composition of birds, blossoms and animals painted in vivid enamel shades. It is impossible to make two alike.
Engineering with a Soft Touch
Inside each case sits Glashütte Original’s calibre 36-16, a movement that shows how modern mechanics can still feel deeply personal. It runs for 100 hours and resists magnetism and temperature shifts thanks to a silicon balance spring.
The finishing is as considered as the dial above it, a three-quarter plate decorated with Glashütte stripes, a hand-engraved balance cock, and a skeletonised rotor in 21-carat gold.
The movement is visible through a sapphire crystal, not to impress but to invite quiet appreciation.
A Case for Restraint
The 40-millimetre red gold case is deliberately simple. Its curves are polished to a soft glow rather than a hard shine, framing the dial without distraction. A domed sapphire crystal covers the face, anti-reflective on both sides, allowing the porcelain to retain its gentle luminosity.
Dark blue or black Louisiana alligator leather straps complete the composition, finished with a red-gold pin buckle that feels more tailored than ornamental.
The Value of Time, Not Speed
The Senator Meissen is not concerned with novelty or noise. It reflects the kind of luxury that emerges only when time is treated as an ally rather than an obstacle. Both manufactories work at a pace dictated by craft, not market rhythm.
In that sense, the watch is a meditation on patience; an object that carries the mark of many hands and the silence of long hours spent perfecting something small enough to hold yet lasting enough to outlive fashion.
An Enduring Conversation
The partnership between Glashütte Original and Meissen is an act of continuity rather than reinvention.
It is proof that progress can look backward as well as forward, and that the meeting of two traditional crafts can still feel fresh when approached with respect and imagination.
Released on 9 October 2025, the Senator Meissen is now available in limited editions of 150 and eight pieces; a collection made for those who see luxury not as invention for its own sake but as the quiet continuation of mastery.
