The Swinging Sixties have always been remembered as a period of fun and freedom. Watchmaking, on the other hand, is usually perceived as traditional and serious. So when Glashütte Original brings the two concepts together, the results were especially combustive.

Apart from the same distinctive playful hour numerals and the combination of a curved dial and sapphire crystal, the five models in this collection are wildly different in terms of dial color. The Sixties Red burns bright with passion, while the Sixties Golden glow with a luxurious warmth; the Sixties Aqua exudes a cool, marine vibe, and the Sixties Brown dominates with its dark persona. Lastly, the Sixties Grey is equal parts vintage and contemporary.

Each dial, however, isn’t simply washed with color but rather is given a beautiful dégradé effect that is darker around the periphery and lightest at the center. Emphasising the domed shape of the dial, these were manufactured in Glashütte Original’s own dial production site in Pforzheim, Germany. The Golden, Aqua, and Red combine bold colors with a refined sunburst finishing, and the Brown and Grey jazz things up further with an elaborate imprint applied using guilloché stamps and a 60-ton press. Look at them up close to fully admire the filigree pattern on those paper-thin dials. And not just the style of these two models but also the guilloché stamps used to create those dial textures are from the 1960s, and evidently still used at the Glashütte Original manufacture today.

Adding a pop of color to any watch aficionado’s collection, these watches are as much fun to wear as they are symbols of traditional watchmaking. Inside the 39mm stainless steel cases, the self-winding Glashütte Original Calibre 39-52 keeps them running for up to 40 hours. German watchmaking may be (at times) infamous for its asceticism, but as the Sixties Iconic Collection shows, a little color never hurts anyone.

Specs

• Senator Sixties Iconic Collection
• Dimensions: 39mm
• Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
• Power reserve: 40 hours
• Movement: Self-winding Calibre 39-52
• Water Resistance: 30 meters
• Case: 39mm in stainless steel
• Strap: Brown or black alligator straps

Story Credits
Text by Celine Yap

This article was originally published in World of Watches