Today, I’d like to introduce you to a brand I encountered at the Geneva Watch Days 2024, one that brings a unique blend of traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology. This is Holthinrichs, a brand from the Netherlands. Before I delve into their latest creation, marking a new era for this young company, allow me to introduce its founder.
As a child, Michiel Holthinrichs lived on a farm in eastern Netherlands with his artist mother and automotive engineer father. What he loved most was drawing and designing things, even aspiring to be an architect. After completing his education, he trained as an architect in Delft and Paris. He always had a keen eye for design, style, and the ornamental elements in buildings, furniture, cars, clothing, and more.
During his studies, he began restoring and selling vintage watches to better understand the art of watchmaking. This inspired him, in 2016, to create his own watch brand with timepieces so powerful in design that people could feel the emotional impact architecture evokes through its spatial, structural, and artisanal complexity—architecture for the wrist.
Holthinrichs Watches has pioneered the watch industry by combining advanced 3D metal printing techniques, premium hand finishing, and a distinctive design language. He started with the creation of his first model, Ornament 1, and later launched the Raw Ornament in 2018, Raw Bronze in 2021, and Liminality in 2022. In early 2023, the brand announced a complete halt on the production of the Ornament 1 and Raw Ornament series to focus on new developments. “Deconstructed” was released as the first watch marking a new phase in the brand’s evolution.
In 2024, the brand introduces a project—indeed, a dream—that has matured since 2017. The Ornament Nouveau model features their first in-house movement in a striking and unprecedented sculptural design language. Now, let’s dive into this piece and its unique features.
Table of Contents – Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau
What are the features of the Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau?
Case
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau features a 5 ATM water-resistant case with a unique and innovative design, 3D printed from titanium powder. The 3D printing process is complex: the print chamber is filled with uniform-sized grade 5 titanium particles. Layers of 50 μm are created by an extruder that applies a binder to the powder. Forming all the layers of a single case takes up to 24 hours. Next, the object must be sintered at approximately 1300 degrees Celsius, which dissolves the binder and fuses the metal to create the case. Once it passes quality control, the case requires CNC milling for the caseback, movement, and crystal fittings before being manually finished.
Instantly recognizable with its extraordinary double-curved surfaces dynamically flowing from the lugs around the case, the design is inspired by Art Nouveau and the work of early modernist architects. The case itself measures 39.5 mm in width and 48.5 mm in total length, with a height of only 9.5 mm. The design and finishing reflect the early works of Michiel, inspired by figures like Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Le Corbusier.
Dial
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau showcases an Eclipse dial made from a UV-sensitive photochromic material, a first in the industry. It’s a unique, domed transparent dial that turns smoky black under UV light, protecting the oils in the skeletonized movement from UV light degradation, while also adding a playful visual effect. The watch’s appearance changes from an almost full dial to no dial at all, and everything in between, depending on the amount of light it receives.
Movement
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau houses an HW-M02 movement, the very first series-produced mechanical watch movement made in the Netherlands. It features striking symmetry and a Swiss anchor escapement made and designed in-house with a free-sprung variable inertia balance wheel. This is suspended beneath the so-called Holthinbridge, a sculpted bridge in 3D-machined glass. The jewels are set in gold chatons, two of which are screwed, with every component meticulously hand-finished using traditional tools and techniques.
The movement offers maximum three-dimensionality thanks to complex machining and specific manual finishing. Interestingly, the mainplate is crafted from brass and available in four galvanic colors: 18-carat gold, 18-carat rose gold, white rhodium, or black rhodium.
Strap
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau comes with a hornback alligator leather strap with large scales. It was the only natural material that could match the watch’s three-dimensionality. It is custom-made and fitted with a 3D-printed titanium pin buckle signed by Holthinrichs.
What is the price of the Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau?
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau is limited to 100 pieces, available at a price of approximately 65,000 euros before tax. Additionally, you can order a unique stainless steel sculpture to decorate your home, or have your Ornament Nouveau suspended in mid-air for all to admire.
Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau: A Game-Changer in Horology
The Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau is an incredibly innovative watch with an uncompromising, all-encompassing design. It embodies all of the brand’s hallmarks while introducing a significant evolution—an in-house movement that took several years to develop. The sensation is like having a piece of architecture on the wrist. With their watches, they redefine the approach to traditional watchmaking by mastering high-tech 3D fabrication.
This year, Holthinrichs Watches has reached a new milestone. The brand has diversified in two distinct directions. The first branch—simply called Holthinrichs Watches—aims to build a solid brand reputation and design identity by firmly positioning itself against today’s prevalent lack of vision and design quality. These watches form the brand’s signature line, referred to as the SIGNATURE line. The second branch is dedicated to horological artistry—Holthinrichs Haute Horlogerie—the culmination of unrestrained creativity and a grand ambition to create the most beautiful three-dimensional wrist sculptures, developing an independent manufacturing ecosystem, in-house movements, and premium hand finishing. I would like to extend my thanks to the passionate team behind this project, who were attentive to my questions and open to my feedback. This is a brand you must experience in person.
Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau – Watch Specifications
- Brand: Holthinrichs
- Model: Ornament Nouveau
- Case Material: 3D-printed Titanium Grade 5
- Dial: A domed transparent dial that turns to smoke-black in UV light. The dial ring enclosing the transparent dial is made out of titanium and features a curved shape with milled and hand-polished hour indicators.
- Functions: Hours ; Minutes
- Movement: HW-M02, In-House, Manual-Winding, 21’600vph frequency (3 Hz), 24 jewels
- Power Reserve: 83 Hours
- Water Resistance: 5 ATM
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Case Back: Sapphire
- Case Dimension: 39.5 mm (Diameter) × 9.5 mm (Thickness)
- Lug-to-lug: 47.2 mm
- Strap: Hornback Alligator with Holthinrichs 3D Printed Titanium Buckle in Brushed Finish
- Availability : Limited Production of 100 pieces
- Retail Price: € 65’000 (Excluding VAT)
Are you familiar with this brand and their new model? Share your thoughts—does it strike you as incredible, or perhaps still too avant-garde?
For more information about Holthinrichs, click here.