With its new BACKPAGE Transparent watch, the German watch manufacture Moritz Grossmann offers a showcase for the beauty of Grossmann’s watchmaking artistry. The watchmakers from Grossmann have designed the calibre 107.0 with a mirrored High Artistic Finish and moved it to the dial side.
The moving spectacle of the movement with Grossmann’s balance wheel, ratchet wheel, crown wheel and Glashütte stopwork with backlash can be admired in its entirety through the transparent sapphire crystal dial.
Calibre 107.0 is essentially a mirror image of the calibre 100.1, but with crucial new design elements. An additional wheel between the crown wheel and the ratchet wheel reverses the entire drive train with respect to the rotation of the mainspring barrel. The wheel train runs in the right direction thanks to the mirrored escapement and the mirrored oscillation system – also including the balance spring coiling direction.
Both the design and construction of the balance cock and escape-wheel cock were adapted to the larger dimensions of the 3/4 plate. The escapement wheel and the cantilevered balance cock with its hand-engraved, floral pattern create a balanced accent in the overall arrangement of the movement. The High-Artistic finish showcases attractive hand engravings, bevels, and chamfers.
Black Moritz Grossmann lettering adorns the transparent sapphire crystal dial. The full minute scale and an hour display from 11 to 5 o’clock and the subsidiary seconds are also in black and form a beautiful contrast to the rose gold and white gold colours of the case. Handcrafted hands and screws annealed to a brown-violet hue in the manufactory complete the elegant spectrum of colours.
To display the winding wheels on the dial side, the dial train was reconfigured and exquisitely finished. The artistically crafted train wheels were arranged beneath a lavishly polished minute-wheel bridge.
By moving the hand setting mechanism to the opposite side of the movement, the setting wheel extends all the way through the calibre. The new arrangement created space for the optimised barrel bearing and the ratchet wheel, which was also shifted to the front side.
On the new rear side of the movement, the winding and hand-setting mechanism is now openly integrated in the train bridge, so its functionality can be fully observed for the first time. Almost all parts are mirrored in order to guarantee their function even when mounted in the opposite position while ensuring the position of the lever remains unchanged.
After a short pull on the winding crown, the mechanism switches from winding mechanism to hand setting. At the same time, the brake position is sampled at the clutch lever and this motion is transferred to the brake spring via a push rod, which stops the balance. After adjusting the hands, the movement can be comfortably restarted by activating the pusher below the winding crown and the push rod returns to its rest position.
This technical highlight is a mechanism developed by Moritz Grossmann that prevents dust from getting into the movement and prevents the hands from being accidentally adjusted when the crown is pushed back.
The BACKPAGE Transparent is available in rose gold and white gold with a dark brown alligator leather strap. Both the rose gold and white gold versions of the BACKPAGE Transparent are limited to eight pieces each worldwide.
Versions
Moritz Grossmann Backpage Transparent Limited Edition, Rose gold model
Reference: MG-002716
Case: 750/000 rose gold
Dial: Transparent sapphire crystal with black numerals and indexes
Hands: Manually crafted, steel, annealed to a brown-violet hue
Limited edition: 8 watches
Moritz Grossmann Backpage Transparent Limited Edition, White gold model
Reference: MG-002570
Case: 750/000 white gold
Dial: Transparent sapphire crystal with black numerals and indexes
Hands: Manually crafted, steel, annealed to a brown-violet hue
Limited edition: 8 watches
Technical details
Movement
Manufactory calibre 107.0, manual winding, regulated in five positions
No. of parts: 230
Jewels: 24 jewels, 11 gold chatons, of which 7 in screwed chatons
Escapement: Lever escapement
Oscillator: Shock-absorbed Grossmann balance with 4 inertia screws and 2 poising screws, Nivarox 1 balance spring with No. 80 Breguet terminal curve, Gustav Gerstenberger geometry
Balance – Diameter: 14.2 mm, frequency: 18,000 semioscillations/hour
Power reserve: 42 hours when fully wound
Movement dimensions – Diameter: 36.4 mm, height: 5.0 mm
Functions
Hours, minutes and subsidiary seconds with stop second, Grossmann manual winder with pusher
Operating elements Crowns in precious metal to wind the watch and set the time, pusher in precious metal to start the movement
Case
Three-part, precious metal
Diameter: 41.0 mm, height: 11.35 mm
Crystal/display back: Sapphire crystal, antireflective coating on one side
Dial
Transparent sapphire crystal, printed baton indexes and number 12
Hands: Manually crafted from steel, annealed to a brown-violet hue
Strap
Hand-stitched alligator leather with prong buckle in precious metal
Special features
Balance staff with integrated safety roller, location of the impulse pin in the balance (Glashütte style); index adjuster with Grossmann micrometer screw; plate movement with 3/4 plate on dial side, frame pillars and separately removable clutch winding mechanism; visible hand setting train on the back side of the movement; frame parts in untreated German silver; raised gold chatons with pan-head screws; ratchet wheel with stopwork on the modified spring barrel bearing with a gold chaton in the ratchet wheel; dial train wheels spoked and bevelled, beneath polished bridge
