by Ian Skellern

In a recent article about the Glashütte Original PanoMaticInverse, posted during our German Watch Week, author Joshua Munchow introduced the PanoMaticInverse’s distinctive three-quarter movement plate with a poem. We thought it was quite a good poem, and we also think it deserves its own post.

View through the display back of MB&F’s Legacy Machine 101

View through the display back of a Kari Voutilainen Observatoire

Though the display back of the Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon 1912

If you look at the back of most Swiss watch movements, you will notice that they generally have single (finger) bridges, which are separate bridges that support separate mechanisms. The advantage of single bridges is that the watchmaker can work on just one part of the movement without having to disassemble most of it. The disadvantage is that it is more difficult to ensure that everything is in exactly the right place; precision and reliability become large factors.

Why the three-quarter plate? In simple terms, three-quarter and full movement plates are the only way to absolutely know that everything is held perfectly in place with no possible chance of shifting or alignment issues. Developed from the much thicker full-plate movements, and the two-thirds plates in use early on in Glashütte, the three-quarter plate had (and continues to have) the benefit of being sturdy while bringing the movement’s height down as the balance can be tucked within the thickness of the rest of the gear train.

Historically, Germans didn’t fuss around with any “namby-pamby” bridges (which would actually be a later development elsewhere). No, they opted for rigidity and stability.

Glashütte Original PanoMaticInverse in red gold

The Glashütte Original PanoMaticInverse has an inversed movement, so instead of its three-quarter plate being hidden on the back of the watch, it is fully visible dial side: a complete delicacy in the world of watches.

And, now, without further ado. . .

Ode To The Three-Quarter Plate

Our earthly flesh
Along it stumbles,
What does it ponder
In the daylight troubles?
The plight of the dodo,
The death of humility,
The Friday night line-up,
Or its own frailty?

To a WIS,
The answer is clear,
The movement, you say,
Is what we hold dear.
The bridges, the balance,
The fine, beveled edges,
The screws and the bluing…
In our throats, breath catches.

To the Germans, there is
Something historically unique,
The three-quarter plate
Is what lies beneath.
Across all the pinions,
The wheels, the staffs,
It stands protecting dutifully
The extent of their craft.

Its surface is stroked
With a fine grinding tool
Its expanse is dotted
With rubies, so cool!
What of the remaining
Quarter of space,
What should be grand enough
To fill this place?

That honor is secured
By the belle of the ball:
The double swan-neck balance,
Hand-engraving and all!
Its majesty framed
By the three-quarter plate,
The seconds, it spells
With its timely gait.

But lest I sound
Like that Seuss from those stories,
Let us get on with
This article, and hurry!

To read the article that this poem prefaced, please click Ode To Three-Quarters: The Glashütte Original PanoMaticInverse.