Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023
Jamie Weiss- Glashütte Original’s annual update to their Sixties Chronograph brings a sportier vibe to the vintage-inspired watch
- Its intriguingly textured grey dégradé dial is contrasted by a new fabric strap
- An in-house chronograph movement provides a point of difference
These days, Glashütte Original’s Vintage collection – a range of watches inspired by the ’60s and ’70s – is arguably their best-known, and easily their most playful. Having said that, the ’60s and ’70s weren’t particularly playful decades in Glashütte. Trapped behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, the firm that is now called Glashütte Original was actually known as the VEB Glashütte Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), which was formed in 1951 as a forced collectivisation of the major watchmakers of Glashütte, including A. Lange & Söhne and Tutima. The watches produced by GUB were fine timepieces, but not particularly flashy. They certainly didn’t embody the ‘Swinging Sixties’ in the same way that pieces from outside of the Warsaw Pact did.
So in that sense, Glashütte Original’s Vintage collection is kind of making up for lost time. They’re watches that they could’ve made way back when if the spectre of communism hadn’t loomed quite as large; if Glashütte’s watchmakers were allowed to be a bit more playful. The Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition is perhaps the most potent celebration of GO’s new-found freedom. A special edition, annually updated, vibey chronograph? How decadent… And this year’s edition might be the most playful edition yet.
The Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023 boasts a rather captivating grey dégradé dial, which features a unique texture that makes the dial look like it’s been chemically eroded. It’s a finishing technique GO used on numerous previous Sixties Annual Editions, including burnt orange and kiwi green: the latter looked almost like a splattered kiwi fruit or something. It’s a finish that really suits the grey tone chosen for 2023’s edition – you’d think grey would be a boring colour but this finish makes it rather intriguing.
Contrasting that grey dial, the Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023 features PVD red gold hands and indices. Grey and gold is a colour combination used to great effect by brands like Vacheron Constantin before, so it’s not as strange as it sounds. ’60s-style numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock as well as a pair of very large chrono subdials completes the package. Under the hood beats the in-house calibre 39-34, which powers the vast majority of GO’s Vintage collection (such as these colourful Seventies Chronographs) and possesses a Glashütte three-quarter plate with Côtes de Genève, swan-neck fine adjustment and GO’s signature 24ct gold rotor with a double-G logo.
Unlike the previous two Sixties Chronograph Annual Editions, which featured suede straps, the 2023 edition features a blue textile strap, which lends the piece a sporty character the others lacked. Blue, grey, gold, steel – it shouldn’t work, but it does. It’s an enigmatic piece, this. Traditional yet a bit quirky, sporty yet refined. It’s exactly the sort of watch I’d imagine Don Draper or another Mad Men character would wear, just if they had a penchant for pickles and Trabants.
Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023 pricing and availability
The Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023 will be available from September 2023 in Glashütte Original Boutiques worldwide and from selected retailers. Price: A$13,550
| Brand | Glashütte Original |
| Model | Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition 2023 |
| Reference Number | 1-39-34-06-22-04 |
| Case Dimensions | 42mm (D) x 12.4mm (T) x 48.5mm (LTL) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres (3 bar) |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire |
| Dial | Grey/black varnished bronze with dégradé effect |
| Strap | Dark blue synthetic strap with steel pin buckle |
| Movement | Manufacture Calibre 39-34, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 40 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph |
| Availability | Available from September 2023 |
| Price | A$13,550 |