Armin Strom, the independent Swiss watchmaker renowned for its openworked designs and mechanical innovation, proudly unveils two striking new additions to its System 78 collection: the Orbit Lime Green and Orbit Ice Blue.

These limited edition timepieces—each restricted to just 20 pieces worldwide—introduce vibrant new fumé dials that blend bold aesthetics with technical mastery. The Lime Green model radiates energy and modernity, while the Ice Blue version offers a serene and sophisticated presence. Both dials feature a gradient effect that transitions from vivid color at the center to deep black at the edges, enhancing the visual depth of the openworked design.

A World-First Date Display on Demand

At the heart of both models lies the Armin Strom Manufacture Caliber ASS20, the world’s first movement to feature a date display on a ceramic bezel that appears only when activated. A pusher at 10 o’clock engages the date hand, which points to the current date and advances automatically at midnight. A second press returns the hand to its neutral position, offering a playful yet practical complication powered by a column-wheel mechanism.

The movement also incorporates Armin Strom’s patented Equal Force Barrel, delivering consistent energy for a stable 72-hour power reserve.

Haute Horology Craftsmanship

Each Orbit model is meticulously hand-finished at Armin Strom’s Manufacture in Biel/Bienne, employing traditional techniques such as anglage, perlage, and circular graining. The off-center dial is paired with rhodium-coated hands enhanced with Super-LumiNova®, ensuring legibility and elegance. The watches are housed in a stainless steel case with a fixed ceramic bezel and come with a matching bracelet featuring a double-folding clasp.

The Science of Movement

Founded in 1967 and revitalized in 2009, Armin Strom continues to push the boundaries of horological innovation. Every timepiece is designed, developed, and assembled in-house, reflecting the brand’s commitment to transparency, craftsmanship, and mechanical excellence.

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The year 2026 marks a historic milestone for the Moritz Grossmann manufactory in Glashütte, as it celebrates the 200th birthday of its visionary founder and namesake, born on March 27, 1826. A genius watchmaker, scientist, author, and initiator of the German Watchmaking School, Grossmann profoundly shaped the craft of horology and the fate of his hometown. Rather than merely imitating historical concepts, the modern manufactory honors his legacy by blending his cutting-edge philosophy with modern engineering. This dedication to technological perfection and exceptional aesthetics cements its place among the world's elite elite watchmakers.

To commemorate this bicentennial occasion, the brand has unveiled the HAMATIC Silver-Plated by Friction anniversary edition. This special timepiece introduces exclusive design details that pay tribute to the brand's origins, including an "1826" engraving on the balance cock and a vintage 1875 "M. GROSSMANN" logo on the dial. For the first time on a Hamatic model, clean Arabic numerals represent the hours, gracefully stepping in to replace the Roman numerals traditionally favored in previous iterations.

At the heart of the watch lies the exquisite manufactory calibre 106.0, which features a highly effective automatic winding system driven by a pendulum-style hammer weight. This "hammer automatic" mechanism masterfully reinterprets a historical concept with contemporary engineering, incorporating custom features like stop seconds for precise time setting and hand-finished decorations. The movement also proudly mirrors Grossmann’s original ingenuity through traditional hallmarks, such as a large balance wheel, raised screws, and fine handcrafted hands made of blue annealed steel.

The standout aesthetic achievement of this anniversary edition is its rare "silver-plated by friction" dial finish. This painstaking, entirely manual technique requires a master artisan to delicately brush the dial surface with specialized pastes and powders to achieve a fine-grained, velvet-like texture that softly diffuses light. Set in an elegant white gold case paired with a blue kudu leather strap, the HAMATIC Silver-Plated by Friction will be released on March 26, 2026, and is strictly limited to just 18 pieces worldwide.

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Independent manufacture Greubel Forsey has unveiled the Balancier QM ($GF09cm$), marking a historic milestone for the workshop by officially naming its highest, most uncompromising hand-finishing standard: Qualité Musée (Museum Quality). While this meticulous level of execution has been quietly embedded into every single timepiece crafted by the Atelier since its founding in 2004, the Balancier QM is the first model to formally carry the designation. Driven forward by a dedicated research wing within the brand’s proprietary EWT (Experimental Watch Technology) Laboratory, this standard mandates that every individual component, whether fully visible through the sapphire crystals or buried deep within the gear train, must hold up as a standalone work of art.

The mechanical architecture of the Balancier QM is a tour de force of in-house micro-engineering and innovation. Most notably, the timepiece features a specialized hairspring manufactured entirely in-house from the raw alloy stage up—a rarity in modern watchmaking accomplished via restored antique machinery. This is paired with an impressive $12.60\text{ mm}$ variable-inertia balance wheel and a cutting-edge bi-level escapement system that utilizes unique convex pallet-jewels, allowing light to softly diffuse through the rubies rather than abruptly reflecting off flat surfaces. Illustrating the immense labor required for the Qualité Musée standard, the steel balance wheel bridge alone requires seven distinct hand-finishing techniques, ranging from flawless mirror barrel polishing to extra-large $0.40\text{ mm}$ hand-polished bevels.

Visually, the timepiece presents an intricately layered, three-dimensional landscape neatly organized within a highly compact 39.60mm white gold case. The movement architecture encourages deep visual exploration; the escapement is nestled into the lowermost depths of the chassis, while the eye naturally ascends past a high-set small seconds sub-dial, flame-blued polished steel hands, and a raised chapter ring. Beneath this upper track, a power-reserve indicator slips mysteriously across a dedicated sector to track the watch's 72-hour chronometric power delivery, sustained by two fast-rotating, series-coupled mainspring barrels. True to Greubel Forsey’s signature underplayed luxury, the words "Qualité Musée" are entirely absent from the dial, hidden instead on a secret internal plate deep inside the movement.

Limited to just 33 exclusive timepieces worldwide, the Balancier QM represents a deliberate strategic pivot for Greubel Forsey toward smaller, more wearable case dimensions without sacrificing an ounce of technical complexity. The manufacture openly acknowledges that achieving this level of structural perfection across all 298 movement parts demands an extraordinary expenditure of time, which will intentionally reduce the company's overall production volume heading into 2027. Looking ahead, the Qualité Musée standard will serve as the foundation for a series of compact releases, including a highly anticipated movement under development at the EWT lab featuring a gear train crafted entirely from solid gold.
 

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The year 2026 marks a momentous milestone for Moritz Grossmann as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of our founder’s birth. Moritz Grossmann was not only a master horologist but a visionary scientist and author who forever changed the landscape of Glashütte watchmaking. To commemorate his bicentenary, we are proud to unveil the TREMBLAGE Gold anniversary edition, a tribute that bridges his 19th-century spirit with the pinnacle of modern artisanal watchmaking.

This exceptional release introduces two limited editions, crafted in 750/000 rose gold and 950 platinum, with each variant strictly limited to just eight pieces worldwide. The soul of these timepieces lies in the solid rose gold dial, which has been meticulously hand-engraved using the rare "tremblage" technique. This traditional method involves a master engraver using a specialized burin to create a multi-directional, finely textured matte surface, resulting in a mesmerizing play of light that serves as a backdrop for the raised, hand-polished numerals.

The movement powering these anniversary models is the exquisitely finished Calibre 100.1 manual-winding movement. In a direct nod to the founder's legacy, the balance cock features a unique hand-engraved "1826," marking the year of Grossmann’s birth. Every component, from the heat-annealed brown-violet screws to the hand-carved pillars and German silver plates, reflects our commitment to "Schönstes deutsches Handwerk"—the finest German craftsmanship.

With the TREMBLAGE Gold edition, we do not simply replicate history; we evolve it. These watches embody the same pursuit of technological perfection and aesthetic brilliance that Moritz Grossmann championed two centuries ago. We invite you to discover these masterpieces, which stand as a testament to a heritage that continues to inspire every movement we create and every hand-finished detail we produce in our Glashütte manufactory.

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