Meet the Zeitwinkel 273° Saphir Fumé – not only our bestselling timepiece, but also a watch that captures the essence of our watchmaking philosophy. With its transparent smoked sapphire dial, this exceptional watch highlights what we are all about: traditional artisan watchmaking craftsmanship and our own inhouse movements.

With its mesmerizing dial, the 273° Saphir Fumé unmistakably carries the DNA of a classic and elegant Zeitwinkel timepiece. Its dial is perfectly balanced with the large date at the “11” position opposite the 72 hours power reserve indicator. This harmonic design provides the frame for what makes this watch special: our patented large-date caliber ZW0103.

If we could highlight just one special feature of the 273° Saphir Fumé, it would be our ZW0103 manufacture movement. The ZW0103 is an expression of our founders’ passion for traditional watchmaking and took three years of initial development. The exceptional mechanism of the ZW0103 consists of an automatic winding movement with a semi-integrated complication for the large date display.

When we constructed our movements, our focus was on precision and serviceability. This meant using very solid bridges instead of aiming for the thinnest possible caliber. It also led us to use a solid three-quarter plate which reduces flexing and unwanted play. This commitment to structural integrity requires extreme precision during assembly—performed entirely by hand by our watchmakers.

The movement has the substantial diameter of 30.4 mm, 49 bearing jewels, a total of 387 components, a frequency of 28,800 oscillations, a Glucydur balance and a very reactive, bi-directional automatic winding mechanism. The total running time of the movement is 72 hours. So much for the technical aspects.

German Silver, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, has a beautiful color that develops a light but very warm patina if left uncoated. It will however develop spots if touched with bare fingers and obviously, any mistakes that happen during the handling or decoration of the movement cannot be covered up.

At least 75% of the work on the ZW0103 takes place only after all the parts have been manufactured. We assemble everything, including the smallest components, by hand and then decorate even the undersides and areas the owner of a Zeitwinkel watch will never see.

The dial of our 273° Saphir Fumé has often been described as “stunning” or “cool”.  Hardly anyone notices how technically complex it is and how long it takes to manufacture it.

The next major step is the metallization of the outer ring under the minute track (“minuterie”). This allows a precise reading of the time regardless of the light condition and possible reflections from the German Silver of the movement.

The hour and minute hands of the 273° Saphir Fumé are precisely matched to the indices of the sapphire dial. They are diamond-set, which means they have two straight surfaces that are set at an angle to each other over almost the entire length of the hand. As a result, one side always reflects the incident light, creating a strong contrast with the dial.

Every detail of the Zeitwinkel 273° Saphir Fumé case is purposefully crafted to complement the in-house ZW0103 manufacture movement it protects. The striking interplay of polished surfaces and finely textured details gives every Zeitwinkel case its unmistakable character and presence.

To achieve its signature contours, each watch case is manufactured using precision machinery. After that, the construction is completed primarily by hand. In this process, 26 parts are assembled in more than 80 individual steps.

For our leather straps, only hand-selected skins are processed and refined with the traditional full-bugg technique. The result is a supple and extremely durable strap available in various colors. For animal welfare reasons, we completely abstain from using reptile leather and replace it by high-quality hand-sewn calfskin.

As an alternative to our leather straps, the 273° Saphir Fumé can also be ordered with our durable caoutchouc watch strap. Caoutchouc has proven to be very skin-friendly and extremely durable not only for the use in warmer climates, but also during more athletic activities. It is waterproof, UV-resistant, tearproof and dimensionally stable.

The Zeitwinkel caoutchouc watch strap is closed with a high precision manufactured folding clasp made of polished stainless steel 316L that can be opened and closed with one hand. It is necessary to cut the strap to the length of the wrist, which can easily be done by the owner or a local watch specialist.