Kallinich Claeys

Kallinich Claeys is the tenth watch brand in Glashütte — founded in 2022 by Johannes Kallinich and Thibault Claeys, both former A. Lange & Söhne watchmakers who left to forge something of their own, and already one of the most compelling young independent ateliers to emerge from German horology in a generation. Johannes, born in 1993, began his three-year watchmaking education in Glashütte itself, joining A. Lange & Söhne immediately after graduation in 2013 in the Saxonia department. By 24 he was head of the Lange 1 department; he later transitioned to the chronograph department, and in 2021 completed his German Master Watchmaker certification — the Meisterprüfung — a demanding qualification requiring the creation of a Meisterwerk (masterpiece piece). Johannes's Meisterwerk, featuring a distinctive indirect seconds bridge, attracted attention on the Watchfinder YouTube channel ('The Most Incredible Watch I've Ever Reviewed') and was the direct catalyst for his decision to go independent: the recognition it received showed him it was possible. It was during the Meisterwerk process that he met Thibault.

Thibault Claeys is Belgian, from Antwerp, where he completed a three-year watchmaking education before joining the Lange 1815 department in 2019. He is the engineering and finishing counterpart to Johannes's construction and design strengths: passionate about machines, tools, and surface finishing, he built his own CNC milling machine — first in his apartment, then relocated to the workshop — and spends two to three hours finishing each individual hand, with inside chamfering the most demanding of his tasks. The two became close friends and left Lange together in June 2022, founding Kallinich Claeys and establishing their workshop at Dresdner Straße 6 in Glashütte — on the main road through the valley, directly between A. Lange & Söhne's main building and its employee parking lot, right next to Nomos headquarters and directly opposite the SUG case workshop. Their workshop is framed on all sides by large windows, inspired by Akrivia and Rexhep Rexhepi's Geneva atelier. Johannes is an AHCI candidate since 2025, mentored by Marco Lang and Stefan Kudoke.

In August 2022, before a prototype existed, Kallinich Claeys posted renders of their debut watch on social media: the Einser Zentralsekunde — 'Einser' from the German 'Eins' (one, the first), 'Zentralsekunde' meaning central seconds. Within a single day all 30 allocated pieces were claimed. The two-year development process that followed was conducted transparently: a WhatsApp group connected the watchmakers directly with their waiting clients, through whom every challenge was shared openly. The watch was delivered beginning in late 2024. The Einser is offered at EUR 24,900 — a price that multiple reviewers noted would be double or triple from an established independent, and which Monochrome-Watches described as 'tremendous value for money.' The movement — Calibre KC001.1 — is designed and built almost entirely in-house, including all pins and gears, in a 36.6mm × 5.9mm format, manual-wind, beating at 18,000 A/h (2.5Hz) with 45 hours of power reserve. The KC001.1 presents all the classical hallmarks of Glashütte watchmaking — German silver bridges, hand-engraved balance cock with shark-gill engraving (inspired by the Mercedes 300SL rather than the traditional floral pattern), gold chatons, three-quarter plate — but with significant innovations. The indirect centre seconds mechanism uses an old-fashioned bridge-driven indirect route rather than a conventional fourth-wheel centre-seconds arrangement, providing a more elegant gear train layout.

The winding train includes a wheel of just 4.8mm diameter housing a ceramic ball bearing race to reduce friction. The differential bridge driving the linear power reserve is machined from steel rather than German silver, creating a visual contrast within the movement. The sapphire crystal jewels are set in gold chatons secured by blued screws; 19 internal angles are present across the barrel, central seconds, and escape wheel bridges. Finishing includes black polishing, frosting, anglage, circular graining on gears (rather than the conventional snailing), and heat-blued screws throughout. The three-part dial comprises a blue hand-hammered chapter ring (blue texture finished by Cador, white pad-printed markings), a grey hand-engraved or hand-guilloché central disc (galvanised in black and lacquered), and an eccentric offset circle finished in tremblage and bearing the Kallinich Claeys plaque. Hands are made entirely in-house, polished to a three-dimensional chamfered finish. The 41mm × 11mm steel case has stepped lugs, a knurled crown, dual sapphire crystals, and — in a claimed world first — a power reserve indicator displayed through a curved sapphire crystal aperture in the caseband at 8 o'clock, integrating the mechanical information directly into the case architecture rather than the dial.

The editions released to date are: the Founders Edition (8 pieces, hand-engraved relief geometric centre disc, sold out); the Standard Edition (22 pieces, hand-guilloché centre disc, sold out); the Hong Kong Edition (10 pieces in partnership with A Watch Company, brown dial, sold out); and the Voyager Edition (2025, 18k white gold case, dial centre inspired by the astronomical heritage of Dresden and the Voyager space exploration motif, in-house KC001.1 movement with 208 components and 30 transparent sapphire jewels, dark brown ostrich strap with white gold buckle). Cases are produced by RP Uhrgehäuse — the same case manufacturer used by Glashütte Original — while blanks are milled in-house before external decoration specialists complete the work. The Einser Central Seconds Hong Kong Edition was a semi-finalist for the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives 2025–26. A collector from South America traveled 24 hours with multiple flight connections to pick up his watch in person in Glashütte; a Japanese collector's example carries a bespoke personal engraving on the balance cock. Johannes and Thibault aim to be an example that it is possible for young watchmakers to found their own brand in Glashütte alongside the established names — and that German independent watchmaking can speak its own language, distinct from Switzerland.