Moritz Grossmann Crosses Two Recent Benu Power Reserves to Make a Steel and DLC Pair

Moritz Grossmann rarely does steel, and when it does, it treats the metal just as preciously as it would a precious metal. Maybe even more so, since it's rare for them to use it. These two Benu Power Reserves take the brushed cases from the 12th-anniversary edition and fit them with last year's sector dials, nominally to mark 200 years since Moritz Grossmann was born. Mechanically nothing has changed. Visually, the combination just might be better than either of the watches it borrows from.

The three-part case is 41mm wide and 11.65mm thick, with the long, tapering lugs the Benu is known for. One is plain steel, the other steel with a grey DLC coating, and both are brushed with no polished surfaces. That matte finish suits the watch, as it is an oversized dress watch that creeps up into sports teritorry. Next to the crown sits the brand's patented pusher, which keeps dust out of the case when you pull the crown to set the time. It really is a very cool trick. You pull out the crown and it snaps back to the original position, instead of remaining pulled out. But, the act of pulling it out hacks the movement and allows you to set the time. When you’re done, hit the pusher at 4 o’clock and it will restart the movement.

The dial is grey and built on three levels. A smooth outer track with white minute numerals surrounds a snailed chapter ring that has applied Arabic numerals on every even hour except six. Inside that is a grained center with a sunken, smooth small seconds register. Between noon and the hand stack, a trapezoid window shows the linear power reserve: it's white when fully wound and fills with grey as the 42 hours run down. The hands are made by hand from polished, bevelled steel, with needle-thin tips and a closed rhombus as the minute hand's counterweight.

Through the caseback you can see the in-house, hand-wound calibre 100.2, a movement that adds a differential to the 100.1 to run the reserve display. It has a two-thirds plate with Glashütte ribbing, a hand-engraved balance cock and the Grossmann balance beating at a slow 2.5Hz. Power reserve is 42 hours. Both watches come on black kudu leather.

The Moritz Grossmann Benu Power Reserve in steel and in grey DLC steel are each limited to 18 pieces, priced at €40,800 before tax. See more on the Moritz Grossmann website.