The 1941 Remontoire from the “Horological Brothers” Bart and Time Grönefeld is certainly one of the most technically exciting watches to have been introduced to the watch market in the past years. Launched in 2016 and winning the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve (the equivalent of the Oscars for watches) the same year it merges technical prowess with aesthetic equilibrium.

The remontoire devised by the brothers is inspired by a clock found in the church tower of their native city of Oldenzaal in the Netherlands, who was maintained and serviced by their grandfather and father who were both watchmakers. The 1941 in the watch’s name comes from the birth year of their father.

A remontoire, which was first seen in a wristwatch in the Journe Tourbillon à Remontoire d’Egalité is a complex constant force mechanism rarely seen that allows the force driven by the mainspring to remain constant throughout the complete power reserve of the watch without loss of amplitude at the end of the power reserve and ensuring constant accuracy throughout.

The Grönefeld brothers made only 188 Remontoire movements cased in different metals and dial configurations. In their original model the remontoire regulator was visible on the dial side, however the present Remontoire 1941 in steel - an ultra-limited edition of 12 made in collaboration with Hodinkee, the renowned online watch magazine- does without the visible regulator.

This didn’t mean that the only difference with a regular Remontoire is a full dial covering the governor. The Grönefelds set out to re-think the governor so that it could be recessed into the movement, instead of sitting laterally above as they had conceived it and it took them over a month of engineering to decide if it could be done at all. The movement was thus modified to have a new flatter governor as well as a shorter pinion, and entirely newly designed bridge Not only is the governor now concealed, but several small details of the dial have been reduced – gone is the "Eight Seconds Remontoire" above the seconds register, as is the silvered track, and the signature below six o'clock is the Netherlands.

The bridges and plates of the Remontoire 1941 are made from steel as opposed to brass more commonly used in watchmaking, its unique architecture, various finishes and the overall attention to detail make the movement an incredible sight to behold.

“The use of the remontoire is by far the best method of smoothing the power supply, but it is complex and costly to make. For this reason watches with remontoirs are very rare and this, combined with their attractive action, gives them a special place in the affections of the connoisseur of mechanics. The fact that the mechanism is quite unnecessary merely adds to its charm.” George Daniels in “Watchmaking”