Glashutte PanoRetroGraph Watch

The Glashutte Original watch company has a long a fascinating history. Most buddy watch collectors are very surprised when they learn that Glashutte is a German company. And when they learn that Glashutte is located in what was Communist East Germany their amazement grows. Glashutte is a true watch “Manufacturer’ in the truest sense of the word as they design and manufacture every component for each watch in house. The company that is today Glashutte began in 1845, but the name Glashutte did not appear on the product until 1926.

The first Glashutte watches had a distinctive and understated round case shape which now dominates the Pano collection of watches. The PanoDate line consists of the PanoRetroGraph, the PanoGraph, the PanoReserve, the PanoMatic Tourbillon, PanoMaticChrono, PanoMaticLunar, PanoMaticReserve, and PanoMaticDate.

The PanoRetroGraph is a manual winding watch set in a 39mm case. This timepiece has several useful complications. First it has a chronograph function with the chrono pushers set at what would be two and four o’clock. I say would because all of the Glashutte Pano watches have a unique dial configuration where the main dial is a smaller sub dial offset to the left side of the main dial. The fly back chronograph is set in a small sub dial below the main dial. The most interesting feature of this timepiece is the countdown function.

When the PanoRetroGraph counts down it has a triple repetition gong that signals the amount of time remaining. The count down indicator itself is located on a half moon shaped window on the right side of the dial. This counter has three separate rows of indicators one for each ten minute segment of the thirty minutes. The watch chimes at each ten minute segment with a different chime combination to alert the user.

The PanoRetroGraph is only available in white or rose gold. The rose gold version comes with either a black or white dial. All models feature a panorama date window located at four o’clock and a countdown reset button located at nine o’clock.