1941 Remontoire | Voutilainen Dial | Steel

The Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire, in many ways, is the embodiment of artisanal, independent watchmaking. Designed by the Grönefeld brothers in the Netherlands, they took inspiration from a remontoire clock their grandfather, and father, used to maintain. The result is esoteric, uncompromising in quality and steeped in romanticism.

The Grönefeld brother

The Grönefeld brothers’ upbringing in a small town in the Eastern part of the Netherlands was permeated in horology. In the evenings and on the weekends, as children, they used to play in their grandfather Johan's workshop, surrounded by instruments and by the sound of their ceaseless ticking. As a gifted watchmaker, Johan also looked after the clock of the nearby church, dating back to 1240. On his death, this custodianship was passed onto his son, the Grönefeld brothers’ father. The latter's year of birth was commemorated in the name of the 1941 Remontoire.

Watchmaking having made a strong imprint on them in their respective youths, Bart and Tim Grönefeld both trained in horology, cutting their teeth at famed complications specialist Renaud et Papi, alongside notable contemporaries such as Stephen Forsey and Stepan Sarpaneva. Producing no more than a few dozen watches a year, the Grönefeld brothers create extremely high-quality pieces, having commanded the admiration and respect of none other than Philippe Dufour, amongst others.

The Remontoire

The inspiration for the 1941 Remontoire harkens back to the brothers’ childhood, and the memories of the clock their grandfather and father used to maintain, which featured a seldom-seen, and highly technical form of power distribution: a remontoire. Providing a more constant delivery of energy to the escapement, a remontoire in theory offers greater precision. Celebrated watchmaker Dr. George Daniels, describes the complication thusly,

"The use of the remontoire is by far the best method of smoothing the power supply, but it is complex and costly to make. For this reason watches with remontoires are very rare, and this, combined with their attractive action, gives them a special place in the affections of the connoisseur of mechanics. The fact that the mechanism is quite unnecessary merely adds to its charm."

The core of the 1941 Remontoire is the movement. From a technical perspective, it features an eight second remontoire, which serves to deliver a constant amount of power to the escapement using a secondary wheel, visible through the dial at 9 o’clock. Consisting of 258 individual components, the caliber features over a dozen different finishing techniques, from snailing to frosting. The bridges, shaped like the bell gable roofs of Dutch houses, are fashioned out of steel, which is much more difficult and costly to work with, than brass or silver.

Each individual bridge requires dozens of steps and up to ten hours of work, including mirror polishing of the screws, and chamfering rims and slots, demonstrating the brothers’ fascination with depth and light. The brothers only ever produced 188 of these movements in total, all of which are now understood to have been made, cased and sold. This movement was amongst the last 60 to leave their workshop. 

The Design

The case - measuring 39.5mm across and just 10.5mm thick - is made out of a special stainless steel alloy, polished and treated in a way that appears brighter than the standard 316L steel. Its sculpted profile is executed with a specially shaped cutter, to create its characteristic hollowed, concave recesses and convex surfaces.

The light blue guilloché dial was made by none other than Kari Voutilainen, famed for his intricate and expertly finished dials. Different styles of guilloché are featured throughout the dial, which has the remontoire exposed at 9 o’clock. Every 8 seconds, the remontoire quickly spins and stops, delivering energy to the escapement.

The Set 

This Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire is accompanied by its original outer box sleeve, outer box, inner box, manufacturers letter (proof of purchase and additional watch information) and warranty card. It comes on our Cairo strap in cream, grained leather and is accompanied by the original Grönefeld petrol blue alligator strap and manufacturers stainless steel tang buckle.

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