The (Semi) Retirement of the Reintjes and How They Took Van der Klaauw to the Next Level
After 15 and a half years, Daniël and Maria Reintjes are leaving Christiaan van der Klaauw watches. While this story officially started in 2009, the seed of them becoming custodians of the brand was planted in 1999, when the couple got in touch with Christiaan van der Klaauw regarding the production of watches for their own lifestyle brand, Dark Rush. This business venture turned over the years into a deep friendship, and as he lacked a successor, Christiaan van der Klaauw offered Daniël and Maria to buy his brand as he was ready to enter into retirement himself.
This was quite a visionary move, as Christiaan van der Klaauw was in every fiber a true master watchmaker, even among the very first members of the prestigious AHCI, and Daniël and Maria are not. Designers at heart, Daniël and Maria, had already built up an impressive track record of founding and managing several companies focusing on design, strategy, and concept development, and even found time to run their own lifestyle brand. In every way, they are what Christiaan van der Klaauw was not, but they do combine that with a great respect for mechanical watchmaking.
Their strategy was to boil down Van der Klaauw to an essence and combine it with an even more recognizable look. They did away with all the distractions and focused the brand on being a manufacture that focuses only on the production of mechanical, astronomical watches. By taking typical Van der Klaauw design elements and recreating them in a bolder and more contemporary form, a recognizable and high-end signature was developed throughout all the different collections.
This was the spark that launched an incredible array of innovative watches, such as 2012 the Real Moon Joure, with a 3D moon phase that only deviates a single day every 11,000 years. But also the Planetarium II, with the world's smallest mechanical planetarium in the world, right on your wrist. The brand made aventurine dials, a glass-like material that looks like you are staring into the depths of space, one of the signature features, and soon their success was widely recognized by others. In 2014, they collaborated with Van Cleef & Arpels, creating the stunning Midnight Planétarium, something they would repeat four years later with the Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Planétarium. That watch also won the Ladies Complication category at the GPHG. This was not the only time that Daniël and Maria had to get on stage in Geneva, as in 2021, they won again, this time with the Planetarium Eise Eisinga in the Calendar & Astronomy category.
As custodians of Christaan van der Klaauw's legacy, Daniël and Maria knew that they also had to pass on the brand at some point and wanted to do that in the best way possible. In 2022, they moved the brand into a new manufacture located in the historic arsenal of Naarden, The Netherlands. That same year, they welcomed Pim Koeslag, the former technical director of Frederique Constant, who took a majority stake in the brand, paving the way for the following custodian to take on the role. This means that Daniël and Maria are leaving what is now also their legacy in capable hands. While they retire from Christiaan van der Klaauw watches, they don't retire in watchmaking as their own brand, Dark Rush, is still very much alive.
