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Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar 42mm Mens Watch Grey
Ref. 1-36-12-03-02-71
Sits in Glashütte Original’s upper tier here — more premium than three quarters of the Glashütte Original watches we list, which start at £6,300.
Price range £6,300 to £34,700 across 33 Glashütte Original watches in stock.The Senator Excellence line exists to make Glashütte Original's most demanding complications genuinely wearable, and this perpetual calendar is the clearest expression of that intention. The Calibre 36-12 underneath runs through a 24-day factory certification before leaving Glashütte, carries an anti-magnetic silicon hairspring and a free-sprung balance, and draws from a single barrel to sustain 100 hours of power — enough reserve that the calendar mechanism, which runs correctly through varying month lengths and leap years until 2100, is never at risk of winding down over a long weekend. The grey galvanic dial sidesteps the cluttered sub-dial layout that perpetual calendars so often fall into, routing day, date, month and leap year through stepped geometric windows that keep the information clean and separated. Blue-plated Roman numerals against the fine-grained surface add legibility without crowding. The lugs curve downward deliberately, so 42mm sits closer to the wrist than the diameter suggests, and the bracelet's micro-adjustment runs inside the folding clasp — precise changes without a tool, which matters on a watch worn this frequently. Through the caseback, the three-quarter plate, hand-engraved balance cock and skeletonised 21-carat gold rotor are decorated in a way that would look entirely at home on something twice the price and half the complication. The heat-blued screws and perlage finish are there not because anyone will see them daily, but because Glashütte Original considers them part of the standard.
- Reference
- 1-36-12-03-02-71
- Brand
- Glashütte Original
- Collection
- SenatorCase Size: 42
- Case size
- 42mm
- Case thickness
- 12.80mm
- Lug width
- 21mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Grey
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- 36-12
- Functions
- Day-date, Moonphase, Perpetual calendar, Calendar
- Water resistance
- 50m
- Bracelet / strap
- Stainless steel bracelet
- Strap colour
- Silver
- Clasp
- Folding clasp
- Lume
- Luminous
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Power reserve
- 100 hours
- Warranty
- 2 years
Learn more about Glashütte Original
Glashütte Original is the direct corporate descendant of the East German state watchmaking industry. When the Soviet administration expropriated Glashütte's private manufacturers after the Second World War — A. Lange & Söhne among them — it consolidated them into a single enterprise, VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe, which produced watches for the Eastern Bloc for four decades.
After reunification the enterprise was privatised, and in 1994 it took the name Glashütte Original. It therefore inherits both the archives and the tooling of the pre-war houses and the industrial capacity built under the GDR.
That inheritance shows in vertical integration unusual even at the high end. The company makes its own movements, and its own dials, through the Pforzheim dial manufactory it acquired in 2006 — a capability most houses buy in.
The house signatures are German: three-quarter plates, duplex swan-neck fine adjustment, hand-engraved balance cocks, and skeletonised rotors in double-G form. The Panorama Date, a large date display where both discs sit on one plane so no dividing line interrupts the numerals, is its most distinctive complication and a deliberate improvement on the standard big-date module.
The Senator, Sixties, and Seventies collections cover classical and retro-industrial ground respectively. Swatch Group acquired the company in 2000.
- 1951
- The Glashütte manufacturers are consolidated into VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe.
- 1994
- The privatised company takes the Glashütte Original name.
- 2000
- Acquired by the Swatch Group.
- 2006
- The Pforzheim dial manufactory is brought in-house.
Manufacturer’s guarantee
Your new watch
Frequently asked questions, and things you should know about this watch
Can I swim with it?
Showering yes, swimming no. 50m covers splashes and brief immersion, but a swimming stroke generates well above the pressure that figure describes.
Will the glass scratch?
Unlikely. Sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness and shrugs off everyday marking.
Does it need a battery?
No. It is automatic — the motion of your wrist winds it, and there is no cell to replace.
How long does it run for when it's not worn?
About 100 hours fully wound — enough to sit off the wrist over a weekend and still be running.
What size strap does it take?
21mm. Any strap of that width will fit, and on most modern watches quick-release bars make the swap a two-minute job with no tools.
Is it a men's or women's watch?
Listed as men's.
Cheapest place to buy
Goldsmiths is the only UK retailer we track stocking this reference, so there is nothing to compare it against today.
Who are Goldsmiths?
Goldsmiths has been selling watches in Britain since 1778 and is part of the Watches of Switzerland Group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. They are an authorised dealer, so a watch comes with the manufacturer’s own warranty.
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