Grönefeld: First Dutch Grande Complication Watch

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The Dutch brothers Tim en Bart Grönefeld officialy presented their first Grande Complication wrist watch yesterday on television, live at Pauw & Witteman (leading talk show):

Pauw & Witteman (for Dutch viewers)

The brothers are born and raised in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands and were trained in Switzerland. After finishing their studies of clock technique they started to exercise the watchmaking profession with much love and interest. Everyday they are busy working on the service and restoration of exclusive, especially mechanical watches.
Since 1999 they started their own business in Oldenzaal and employ 15 qualified watch engineers.

To see their newest creation, please visit: http://www.gronefeld.nl/ and share your opinion!

Grönefeld

Grönefeld

Tim Grönefeld was born on the 12 March 1972 in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands.
He grew up in a jeweller’s family. On a very young age he started to take an interest in engineering and running a business.

First he took a training course in Schoonhoven at a senior technical school for clock technique. After that he went to Switzerland where he successfully finished his studies at the WOSTEP school.

During this training Tim was offered a job at Audemars Piguet (Renaud et Papi) in Le Lock. His brother Bart had already worked here for some time. He accepted the offer and very soon he became responsible for the assembly of tourbillion watches and the adjusting of other clocks.

A couple of years later he and his brother Bart established their own company “ QWS Netherlands”.

Bart was born on 8 May 1969 in Oldenzaal. He also grew up in this city. On a very young age, just like his brother, he started to show much interest in engineering. Both his father and his grandfather were jewellers and watchmakers.

First he finished his studies at a technical school in Oldenzaal. After that he went to a technical school for watchmakers in Rotterdam.

After his studies in The Netherlands he went to Switzerland where he was further trained at the WOSTEP in Neuchâtel. At this school people from all over the world are trained here to become watchmakers.

Bart went to London where he acquired a lot of knowledge and experience by working at Asprey’s, a very exclusive jeweller.

After this stay in London, which lasted for one year, he went back to WOSTEP where he took a course of training about compound watches.

In 1991 Bart accepted a job at Audemars Piguet (Renaud et Papi) in Le Lockle, Switzerland. He became technically responsible for all kinds of complicated work on watches like minute repetitions, tourbillions and grand sonneries.

After he had worked here for seven years he wished to return to Oldenzaal. At the end of 1998 he and his brother Tim established “ QWS Netherlands”.

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6 Responses to “Grönefeld: First Dutch Grande Complication Watch”

  1. Robert-Jan Says:

    Nice watches, but I wonder what justifies the price. I do wonder about this with other small manufacturers as well though. Do they need a ROI within 5 watches?

  2. alonbj Says:

    @RJ: Good question! Let’s ask them directly! I am going to ask them to respond here on this blog posting…

  3. Karlyle Says:

    Good question? Are you both kidding?

    The price is virtually the same as all these kinds of watches from the big brands like Patek, Audemars and all the rest…ROI with 5 watches? What planet are you from?

    Minute repeaters are the most difficult watches to manufacture that exist. Hundreds of parts, and only a few people in the world who can work with them..

    I’m sorry, if you think the price is too high, then the both of you simply don’t have a clue about what you are talking about.

  4. Robert-Jan Says:

    @Karlyle: No need to get rude here.

    I guess you missed my point. I don’t criticize the price of the Groenefeld watch in comparison to other Tourbillon – Minute Repeater watches (e.g. Jules Audemars watch), but the pricing of these kind of complicated watches in general. What justifies these prices? Is it the only the amount of labour? There are several brands having a watch with these complications, like you write yourself (e.g. AP, PP, Corum). The cost is not in the parts afaik.

    You can get tourbillons for a fraction of this price. Or watches with other complex complications. Please enlighten me on the justification of this watch. R&D costs are always high. The R&D costs of the Progress-tourbillon (used in the Chronoswiss Regulateur Tourbillon for example) was probably hundreds of thousands of euros, but these watches went for 25-30K (list!). That’s why I posted the comment on the possible ultra-fast ROI.

    RJ

  5. watches Says:

    intersting a dutch watch

  6. Hollanda saat kardeşliği Says:

    […] 1, 2, […]

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