BUBEN & ZORWEG One Perpetual Calendar Watch

The first thing I thought to myself when I saw these new watches from Buben & Zorweg was "that looks an awful lot like a Martin Braun." Low and behold, Martin Braun is the man behind the movements in these watches. The architecture looks a lot like some of his new stuff at his current brand Antoine Martin. You can see a hands-on look at the Antoine Martin Perpetual Calendar watch here. The movement in this One Perpetual Calendar piece is directly adopted from that piece.

Wait, isn't Buben & Zorweg that very high-end watch winder and safe maker? Well yes, and now they have a limited edition watch collection. The temptation for luxury brands to produce watches seems to be incredibly high. The only problem here is that you can't even use this One Perpetual Calendar watch with most (or all) of Buben & Zorweg watch winders. Why? Well because those are for automatics and this little guy is manually wound.




Calling it little is probably wrong. For whatever reason, Buben & Zorweg neglected to let us know how large the watch is. If Antoine Martin watches are a hint, then this piece is going to be at least 44 - 46mm wide. The movement alone is almost 40mm in diameter. Inside the watch is the caliber BZ01-MHO. While I don't know who produces the movement, it was designed by Martin Braun. As you can see, the movement is adopted from the movement in the Antoine Martin Perpetual Calendar watch. The dial elements are mostly the same - with some rearranging. The only thing removed is the AM/PM indicator hand.

The movement is very nice actually, with Martin Braun being an excellent designer. The caliber BZ01-MHO starts with 156 hours of power reserve - and a power reserve indicator located on the back of the watch movement (visible through the open sapphire crystal display back). The movement beats at 18,000 bph and is made of just over 300 parts. Notice the very large balance wheel that Martin Braun has deemed to be a signature of his modern watch movements.




On the dial you have the time, day and month indicator windows, big date indicator, and leap year indicator for the perpetual calendar. The leap year indicator is a small window near the 12 o'clock marker. Buben & Zorweg designed a rather nice dial with some open work to show the movement. The design feels unique and captures the spirit of Martin Braun's work quite well. Unless you know about Antoine Martin, you'd probably guess this was a unique movement. Buben & Zorweg are not watch makers so it was smart of them to work with someone like Braun for this piece. I only wish it was an automatic so that the watch might actually work with other Buben & Zorweg products.

As a limited edition there won't be too many of these pricy pieces. Buben & Zorweg will offer three versions of the One Perpetual Calendar watch. There will be 99 pieces in 18k rose gold, 99 pieces in 18k white gold, and 49 pieces in platinum. It is an interesting choice for those looking for a relatively exclusive high-end watch with a useful complication and modern design.