DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles
Grönefeld – “Ai’j d’r bint dan moei’j d’r wean’n”
The Grönefeld workshop.
“Ai’j d’r bint dan moei’j d’r wean’n” is a local Dutch saying literally meaning that you have to be there when you are there. Its casual interpretation is that you have to do things the best you can. That might well be the synopsis of what drives the two horological brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld to create unique and exclusive timepieces. Watches are made with love, eye-for-detail and great skill. Only the best materials are used.
The Grönefeld One Hertz: the watch which started it all.
Where it began…
Imagine 2 brothers growing up in a small town in the eastern part of the Netherlands close to the German border. After school and during weekends they play in what looks like a living room but actually is a boutique full of ticking clocks and watches. The boutique and watch and clock workshop once belonged to their grandfather Johan, a gifted watchmaker and also a painter and bon vivant. Johan also looked after the clock of the nearby St. Plechelmus Basilica – which dates back to the year 1240 – operational. That honour was passed on to the boys’ father – and Johan’s son – Johannes Grönefeld, locally known as ‘Sjef’ after Johan’s death in 1974. When their father walks to the church to look after the church clock, bells and movement, the boys often join him. Together they climb the narrow stairs to the top. Immense wooden pillars support a concrete floating structure that hosts the 53 church bells. Without a floating floor, the vibrations would damage the brick and mortar structure of the church. In the middle of these huge wooden pillars, two enormous weights draw their attention. Further up, the “command center” with the clock movement and the carillon is to be found behind a red door with the sign “smoking forbidden”. Especially one part of the movement fascinates them. Each 30-seconds a thing that looks like a paddle turns 180 degrees. The resulting force is transmitted to a long shaft that is connected to the hands of the clock. As the boys grow older and their fascination for watches grow with them, they learn that this mechanism is called a Remontoire. They dream of building such a mechanism in a watch one day.
Bart and Tim Grönefeld with the tower clock mechanism.
That dream became reality in 2016 when the horological brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld – now men instead of boys – launched the prize-winning 1941 Remontoire watch. Note: A clock remontoire differs from the mechanism in a watch. A (church) clock has a constant force because of the use of weights. The purpose of the remontoire is to generate the force required to initiate the jump of the hands. Such a force is necessary during winter time when the jumping mechanism could be frozen. The purpose of the remontoire mechanism in a Grönefeld watch is to ensure a constant force. Adapting the Remontoire complication for a watch […]
The post People profile: The Grönefeld Brothers – dreams, ambitions and other fascinations appeared first on DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles.
Article from: DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles, by Peter Nievaart
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