Two world-famous Saxon inventions unite in the Senator Meissen Tourbillon: Meissen porcelain and the flying tourbillon. The classic 40mm rose gold case houses a thin, white, hand-painted Meissen porcelain dial. Beneath the dial lies automatic manufacture Caliber 94-11, which can be admired through the anti-reflective sapphire crystal back. The flying tourbillon can be viewed through a delicately milled cutaway in the dial.
This latest collaboration between Glashütte Original and the Meissen porcelain works features a flying tourbillon, an invention of Alfred Helwig from 1920. Helwig served as an instructor at the German School of Watchmaking in Glashütte. The balance, pallet lever, and escape wheel are housed in a cantilevered carriage that turns 360° once a minute. The subsidiary seconds display is attached to the carriage of the flying tourbillon and is framed by a polished gold second scale.
The Meissen dial is a work of art in itself. Dial production begins with the formation of a disk from liquid porcelain that is fired at 1400°C. Each disk is carefully examined and only hand-selected disks are painted. The Roman numerals are painted by Meissen’s expert script painters using extremely fine of brushes. The Glashütte Original lettering, and the Meissen trademark crossed swords, are also hand painted. Painting the dial requires eight hours to complete. Colored porcelain glazes are applied in two coats, and each coat is fired at 900°C in order to achieve the desired color intensity. When finished, the piece undergoes a final firing.
