Hands On The Glashütte Original PanoReserve Watch

By Arthur Touchot | August 25, 2015

Glashütte Original took watch collectors on a trip around the world with its new Senator Cosmopolite, but the German watch manufacturer also took the time to update a home favorite, the PanoReserve. Released during Baselworld 2015, the new models present a “galvanic blue” and “galvanic black” dial, and some hard choices for collectors.

Both watches are the product of brand’s well renowned dial-making facility, located in Pforzheim, Germany. Galvanization is a painstaking and meticulous process, which few watch brands are capable of in-house.

This year, Glashütte Original has decided to add two new variations to the PanoReserve family, including a steel version with a “galvanic-blue” dial, and a red gold version with a “galvanic-black” dial.

Both come in a 40mm case, slightly larger than the original PanoReserve, but the same size as the 2012 models. And that will be music to the ears of watch collectors. Although choosing between the two dials will place most of them between a rock and a hard place.

Both see the return of the PanoReserve’s asymmetric dial, featuring an off-center hours and minutes dial intersected by a small-seconds dial at 7 o’clock, a retrograde power-reserve indicator between 2 and 3 o’clock, and finally a big date at 4 o’clock. A nice hint to the brand’s heritage, the date and power reserve are labeled in German.

However, they look like very different watches from afar. The red gold case and galvanic-black” dial certainly make that watch the most classic of the two, but the popularity and versatility of “galvanic-blue’ dials means that the more affordable steel version may be better value for money.

The PanoReserve is once again powered by caliber 65-01. Made in-house at the Glashütte Original manufacture, this hand-wound movement boasts a 42-hour power reserve. Visible through the sapphire case back, the traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate is beautifully hand-engraved and decorated with 48 jewels and screw-mounted gold chatons and blued steel screws.