As with most things, whether a watch will have long (or even medium) term appeal for you will be determined by many factors, of which personal change in tastes is one. Obviously, we are going to exclude those for whom the watches-as-asset-class ‘appeal’ factor is a major aspect of why they desire one watch over another.

In seeing Moritz Grossmann’s new TEFNUT 39 Silver-Plated by Friction I was drawn to the combination of a simple classic design with a textural point of interest and choice of typeface. I checked and confirmed that there had indeed been a special limited edition release by the brand a few years ago, in the form of the XII Birthday Edition Edit which featured the same type of hand-finished grained dial which they call silver plating by friction. It came in 41mm-sized cases of either rose gold or stainless steel. Three years on this combination, even in a slightly different form with Arabic instead of Roman numerals, still has appeal.

This new model uses the same dial technique but this time in the TEFNUT. The new TEFNUT Silver-Plated by friction is, at 39mm, smaller, but also comes in either rose gold or stainless steel.

The finely grained texture of the dial is created thus – a brush is used to rub a paste consisting of silver granules, salt and tartar onto the cleaned brass dial, using a little water, until the graining appears. The engravings (numbers and the historic 1876 ‘M.Grossmann’ logo) on the dial are filled with black lacquer before being silver-plated, and the dial is then fired in a kiln. The surface is sanded to roughen it and to remove any excess lacquer so that only the black inlay remains in the engraved areas. The result is covered with a protective layer and polished. The hands are steel and hand-annealed to a violet colour.

Visible through the open case back is the manually-wound Calibre 102.1. Beating at 21,600 VPH and with a power reserve of 48 hours, it has a frame pillar construction with a main plate and 3/5 plate. The plates have Glashütte ribbing and the brand’s name is hand-engraved, as is the floral pattern on the balance cock. The white sapphires (jewels) are set in gold chatons and held by brown-violet screws.

They come on alligator straps with buckles in either 750/000 gold or stainless steel.

The earlier birthday model came in two limited edition of six pieces each in rose gold or stainless steel. This new TEFNUT 39 Silver-Plated by Friction is part of the permanent collection and has an Australian RRP of $47,000 (including taxes)/ EUR 30,200 for the stainless steel model and $66,500 (including taxes)/ EUR 43,200 in rose gold.

[Photo credit: Moritz Grossmann]

Categories: German watches, Moritz Grossmann, Watch Profile, watches, Women's watches