1941 Principia, Steel

The 1941 Principia is the first time-only, self-wound watch from brothers in independent watchmaking Bart and Tim Grönefeld. Named in honor of their father’s date of birth and Isaac Newton’s work, the 1941 features its own entirely in-house calibre with a style of finishing unique to the brothers. Despite an aesthetic that draws from the 1941 Remontoire, this salmon dial Principia has its own minimal charms, from the balanced closed dial to the self-wound calibre. It is an expertly finished, well considered design which was made to be worn daily. 

Its 226-component automatic calibre fully shows off the skills the brothers refined during their time at Renaud & Papi. The bridges are made of steel, which is far more difficult and expensive to manufacture than traditional brass, and shaped after the traditional bell gable rooftops on many classic Dutch houses. Each bridge takes 10 hours to make. The calibre displays exceptional hand frosting, graining, anglage, and balance bridge skeletonization. The time demands of this extensive finishing on steel result in consistently small production; Grönefeld can only make 5 examples of Principia each month. The calibre G-06 is not complicated in the traditional sense, but also not easy to produce.

The 1941 case framing this artwork remains unchanged, 39.5mm in steel with extremely refined and sculptural concavity most visible in the lugs, bezel, and crown. The concave bezel features two perfectly mirrored steps top and bottom, which flow into the most prominent lines of the lug, integrating the case body and lugs in aesthetic. The entire case architecture feels deeply considered, to the extent that even the pin buckle is sculpted to echo the lug's design language.

The 1941 Principia is an exercise in restraint of form with unrelenting attention to detail and craft. Its calibre loses none of the technical finishing excellence that the Grönefeld brothers built their name upon, while removing all that is not necessary to simply tell the time. It is the ultimate in minimalist Dutch watchmaking, in a lovely traditional salmon tone. 

This 1941 Principia presents in excellent overall condition. The steel case bears light signs of wear, superficial marks on the surface level only. Its pin buckle is similarly only sporting hairlines. Its calibre G-06 is running well in specification on our timing equipment. It comes with two original straps and its complete set.

This example is modelled on an average-sized 7-inch wrist.