6 minute read
IN FOCUS
A GERMAN SLEEPER BRAND AND A BESPOKE SPECIALIST GO UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
Mühle-Glashütte and MJJ
MÜHLE-GLASHÜTTE
Outside of Switzerland, one of the largest and most renowned centres of watchmaking in Europe is Glashütte, the historic home to dozens of Saxon watchmakers. However, it’s a region with a blighted history, one that forced many of the watchmakers to either become part of East German industry or disappear completely.
For a small, family-run business like MühleGlashütte you would expect them to have a similar story ending in closure, yet against all odds they’ve kept the business running for over 150 years. And it’s quite the impressive story.
The company began life as a dedicated precision tool manufacturer under Robert Mühle in 1841, specialising in measuring instruments for other watchmakers and later for the automotive industry. Robert learned his trade under the oversight a watchmaker that you might recognise, one Moritz Großmann.
A few decades later though and things weren’t quite so bright. Like many companies following WWII, Mühle’s was nationalised in 1945. However, in a twist of fate, Hans Mühle (Robert’s grandson) was then hired to run the nationalised company with no one realising his connection to its history. He was then able to grow a new Mühle-branded business alongside the old one.
Their specialisation remained in measurement instruments, however, due to the forced conglomeration of several companies the family began to gain experience in marine chronometers too. So much so in fact that in 1994, the company was reborn once again, this time committed to marine timekeeping.
That obviously wasn’t the end of it. Cool as they are, a niche naval instrument company wouldn’t really find its way to our hallowed pages. MühleGlashütte’s decision to switch to wristwatches came in 1996, when one of the shipyards they had been working with was so impressed by their precision instruments that they asked if the company could make them some wristwatches. After a short discussion the answer was yes.
From that moment on, Mühle-Glashütte has produced high quality precision watches that, due to the brand’s marine heritage, are designed for use at sea. Case in point, the S.A.R Rescue Timer, a watch made in collaboration with Germany’s Search and Rescue organisation, DGzRS. It has a 42mm stainless steel case and an extra-thick sapphire crystal to make it suitably rugged for rough seas. Uniquely, its bezel is made from rubber, to protect both it and any person being rescued from sharp edges.
Another way in which it has been optimised for a
The S.A.R Rescue Timer features a rubber bezel to protect rescuers from sharp edges and has been made in collaboration with Germany’s Search and Rescue organisation
nautical life is its highly legible dial – designed to be read as easily in the night as during the day because time and tide wait for no man, nor the sun it seems. The large rectangular indices are coated with Super-LumiNova and the quarter hours are denoted by over-size triangle hour markers. The date window is also accompanied by a cyclops lens.
The S.A.R Rescue Timer is distinctly not a diving watch as it doesn’t have a diving bezel and it’s not classically retro like most divers, but don’t let that fool you. It puts the majority of diving watches to shame with a 1,000m water resistance that is only beaten by the most dedicated saturation divers. Afterall, it’s a tool made for people who spend their lives at sea saving lives.
Mühle-Glashütte have turned their long and complicated history into a watchmaking manufacturer that creates high precision timepieces that genuinely save lives. For an industry that’s notoriously stuffy, this is one story I’d like to see a film of.
Find out more at muehle-glashuette.de
MJJ
If If you dream of the kind of traditional jewels that populate Bond Street, the elegant facets of classical craftmanship that have come to define the oldest maisons in the world, then you want to stop reading now. MJJ Exclusive is not one of those.
That’s not to say that their bold, idiosyncratic creations aren’t well made; they’re exceptional in fact. But the young brand’s tagline of ‘Rebel in Luxury’ is a lot more than a solid pun; it’s a phrase that’s come to define them.
Founded in 2012 by Matthew J. Jones – the eponymous Rebel in Luxury himself - the brand started out simply selling off-the-shelf timepieces to clients. Nothing particularly exciting there. But it didn’t take long for Jones to notice a shift in tastes, one towards bigger, flashier and decidedly more diamond encrusted than ever.
And so, he went ahead and hired a full team of designers and craftsmen, taking the plunge backed by an extraordinary level of expertise into the heady world of bespoke jewels. The big break came when then Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi commissioned 25 custom Rolexes for his team and from there, MJJ has been the de facto jeweller to the more rebellious glitterati. They stuck the landing nicely.
It’s not hard to see why sports stars have adopted MJJ as their flagship bespoke artiste either. Their penchant for full diamond pieces on one hand, eye-catching combinations of bejewelled neon on the other make for the kinds of pieces players will try to outdo each other on. Well, what else are you going to spend your £150k a week on?
It’s a relationship that’s gone both ways and over the last decade of catering to the tastes of footballers (and others, of course) they’ve developed their own unique style, one that’s culminated in the brand’s very own in-house collection. After all, if anyone knows what the ultra-wealthy are really after, it’s Jones and his team.
This isn’t some diffusion range or anything like that; it’s not the long, arduous custom process start to finish, but MJJ’s jewellery collection is up there with the most exclusive around, and with a stadium length’s more style besides.
Take the Spiked Cuban necklace. In essence, it’s a diamond-encrusted white gold chain. You’ve seen them before, you might even own one. MJJ’s though is different. The spiked links give it an edgier, more aggressive look, sharp and cool in equal measure like a shard of ice. It’s hand set, with no less attention to detail than a custom piece.
Similar is MJJ’s now flagship Channel Ring, particularly the Baguette version. As the name suggests, the ring consists of a central channel of baguette-cut diamonds, flanked either side by
Mauro Icardi’s gift of 25 custom Rolexes (below) to his Inter Milan teammates established MJJ’s reputation as the football jeweller, while their jewellery collection (top) has earned an exclusive appeal thanks to its dazzling styling
smaller, brilliant-cut stones. It has the look of a classic, stacked ring, but with internal caging (in the shape of the brand’s logo) to draw in light for the best shine possible to the gems.
Bespoke being MJJ’s bread-and-butter, both pieces – and indeed the vast majority of their in-house collection – can be customised, letting clients switch around the stones and materials to their hearts’ content.
Of course, custom watches are still a big part of what MJJ Exclusive does – especially among their celebrity clientele – but their jewels are the essence of their approach to craftsmanship. Traditional they are not and thank god for that.
Find out more at mjjexclusive.com
