Holthinrichs Announces the Deconstructed, their Most Ambitious Watch Yet

In the world of the micro indie that is quickly becoming one our favorite emerging spaces in the watch industry, Holthinrichs Watches has been a longtime favorite. With their latest creation, the aptly named Deconstructed, they move to another level (or at least another price bracket) but retain much of the aesthetic and craft that originally captivated much of the Worn & Wound editorial team when we discovered their 3-D printed watches several years ago. The new watch is their most ambitious yet by a large margin, incorporating a new in-house movement and pushing the limits of their manufacturing process seemingly as far as they’ll go. If you look back on the watches they were making just a few years ago, the Deconstructed represents a fairly enormous leap in confidence and conviction in what the brand is doing. It’s genuinely exciting. 

As the name of the watch implies, the Deconstructed is all about the piecing together of individual component parts. The 3-D printing process that Holthinrichs uses allows for an incredible amount of flexibility in designing each part of the case, allowing them to achieve an aesthetic result that would not be possible with more traditional manufacturing methods. For the Deconstructed, a focus has been placed on skeletonization, with each 3-D printed part reduced to the bare minimum of material (titanium, in this case), for a watch that is airy, lightweight, and a logical extension of the Holthinrichs watches that came before it. 

The most visible skeletonized elements here are likely the lugs, the design of which has become a signature element of Holthinrichs watches at this point. The completely skeletonized lugs are suspended between the multiple layers of the monocoque case in a way that is inspired by the hip joint in the human body. The lugs themselves are made of thin, titanium ribbons, and have finishing that alternates between polished and the rough texture of raw, 3-D printed metal, which calls attention to their unique geometry and the unusual lines of the case itself, which is constructed of two circular pieces that appear to be disconnected but in fact form an attachment at the the crown. Again, this is only possible with 3-D printing and Holthinrichs’ skill in this process allows for them to achieve designs that look nearly impossible to render, but maintain the structural integrity required of a watch that is meant to be worn everyday. The case is in a Goldilocks zone in terms of dimensions: 38.5mm in diameter, and 9.8mm tall (including the crystal).

According to Holthinrichs, the dial is inspired by nature, specifically the way a tree forms around a root structure. It consists of 25 individual components across three layers, arranged in such a way that is meant to be harmonious with the case that surrounds it. The primary layer of the dial is a metal ring that has been openworked and skeletonized, designed to allow for the twelve floating “sectors” to be affixed on top. These sectors are divided by large applied hour markers. The markers and sectors (which show the minutes) are not identical in size and shape, but appear to conform with the large asymmetrical opening at the dial’s center through which we can see the movement. Finishing on the dial follows the themes Holthinrichs has established with prior efforts and with the case of the Deconstructed, which is to say there is a variety of finishing techniques employed, all executed for the purpose of drawing attention to seemingly endless small details. 

The Deconstructed, for the first time on a Holthinrichs watch, includes a matching titanium bracelet, which is a fairly significant accomplishment unto itself. Like other components of the watch, the bracelet is openworked and hollowed out, with each link consisting of a pair 3-D printed titanium slabs that connect via a small hinge. It’s a truly striking and contemporary design, and Holthinrichs boasts that it’s the first fully 3-D printed titanium bracelet in the watch industry. The Deconstructed also includes a rubber strap that matches the bracelet’s aesthetic, but is even lighter, for a sportier and lighter weight wearing experience. 

The other major innovation of the Deconstructed is the HW-M01 movement, an in-house caliber that Holthinrichs has been working toward since the brand’s inception. It’s fitted with a free sprung balance with four white gold inertia weights for precise regulation, and has been finished with a mix of frosted, brushed, and polished surfaces, including hand-applied anglage. 

The Deconstructed has an obvious avant-garde appearance with its inherent asymmetry, unusual case design, and exotic manufacturing process, but it’s notable that all of the major elements of the watch’s design (case, dial, and movement) are completely coherent, and of a piece with other watches in the Holthinrichs collection. The Deconstructed is both a logical extension of everything Holthinrichs has done before, and a completely unexpected gamble for such a small brand that still very much occupies a niche within a niche. While some of us might be hoping their next innovation is a 3-D printed time machine that can be used to go back four or five years to when their most basic watches were squarely in the affordable lane, we’re excited by what we’re seeing from the brand as their 3-D printing process reaches a new level of maturity, and can’t wait to see what they might be building toward next. 

The Deconstructed will be limited to 20 numbered pieces. The retail price is €35.000. Holthinrichs