Presenting the Black Tulip by Annelinde Dunselman: New Independent Watchmaker, New Watch
Independent watchmaker Annelinde Dunselman explains, “Fighting and chasing goodness is something that is in me. In my youth, I was a real fighter, both in sports and street fighting.”
That sounds like someone with the determination to make their own watch. And someone I’d like to meet!
Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy Daryl Gaddi @the.timepiecer)
The Black Tulip from the Netherlands I am writing about here is not botanical, this Black Tulip by independent watchmaker Annelinde Dunselman is a hand crafted stainless steel wristwatch.
The Black Tulip is also the title of an historical novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Dunselman’s Black Tulip was one of my personal highlights from Watches and Wonders 2025..
In a world full of many new watch releases – and I’m sorry to say, too also many insignificant new pieces – the exceptional Black Tulip got my attention.
Annelinde Dunselman (photo courtesy Monique Eller Photografie)
I had the pleasure to meet Annelinde Dunselman in the Hotel Angleterre down by the Lake in Geneva during Watches and Wonders. While driving to Switzerland, I made a short stop to eat and drink, and messaged “Hi, Annelinde, greetings from me, Thomas. I will be in Geneva for the next days. And I would love to see your work and your watch. Is it ok if I just drop by to meet you?”
A few minutes later I received, “Dear Thomas, I am very happy to welcome you. You can just drop by. See you then! Annelinde.“
This 2-minute communication immediately lifted my spirts and I was curious to meet Annelinde to see her watch.
I have met and visited most independent watchmakers in The Netherlands (there aren’t that many), and was excited to see the first watch from Dunselman Watchmaking – the Black Tulip.
Whenever I travel to Geneva for the Watches and Wonders, Time to Watches, or Geneva Watchdays, I am always happy to also visit the small workshops makers, the artistic brands, the unknown companies, and the single person ateliers, to see their art, craft, micromechanical engineering,and simply talk to these people.
Meeting Annelinde Dunselman meant that I would see a completely new watch I knew little about, from a watchmaker I hadn’t heard of before, from a country that is not home to many manufacturers and brands, and a meeting that was wonderfully easy to arrange within minutes.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
Dunselman Black Tulip dial with micro-tulip motif pattern (photo courtesy Daryl Gaddi @the.timepiecer)
The Black Tulip
The Black Tulip is a stainless steel watch with a beautifully hand crafted movement developed by Dunselman. It displays hours, minutes, and small seconds, plus a niche complication that you can’t easily see.
Dunselman Black Tulip dial details (photo courtesy David Jumpa/@which_watch_next)
One of my favorite features is the zero-reset mechanism (like it is used for the A. Lange und Söhne Saxomat micro-rotor movement). When a movement has a zero-reset mechanism, it makes my heart happy.
The name of Dunselman’s first watch, ‘Black Tulip,’ is both very Dutch and very appropriate as Black is the rarest tulip color.
Back of the Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy David Jumpa/@which_watch_next)
The designed in-house manually wound caliber D202.5 movement has the rare and playful zero-reset mechanism. When you pull out the crown to set the time, the small seconds hand jumps to 12 o’clock and stops there – like a chronograph reset – until the crown is pushed in.
Dunselman Black Tulip movement (photo courtesy Daryl Gaddi @the.timepiecer)
The power reserve of the Black Tulip is huge: 100 hours.
Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy David Jumpa Photography)
The 38 mm diameter steel case of the watch feels, and is, relatively small, and therefore very comfortable and unobtrusive to wear.
Tulip motifs around the bezel and crown of Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy Daryl Gaddi @the.timepiecer)
The bezel of the Black Tulip is fully decorated with Dunselman’s laser-engraved tulip logo, and I appreciated the attention to small details.
Engraving between the lugs of the Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy David Jumpa Photography)
I asked Annelinde who helps her during the long process of making her own watch, because there will surely be many questions and problems occuring while making your first piece.
Dunselman replied, “Fellow watchmakers helped me, the inexhaustible source of knowledge of my technical draughtsman, but also meeting suppliers who were willing to go the extra mile for me, I experienced all that as a great support.
“My team (meaning suppliers – Annelinde works alone at present)now consists of people who are all willing to go the extra mile. And that’s because they too see how special this project is. It feels like an enormous support and richness to work together and experience this dedication I feel around me.”
So working independently doesn’t necessarily mean working alone.
Dunselman Black Tulip (photo courtesy Daryl Gaddi @the.timepiecer)
Dunselman is a mechanical freak and she likes to collect stuff like watches, turntables, and radios. Before she went into watchmaking, she pursued studies and work in theatre and social sciences – could anything be further away from the craft of watchmaking?
Dunselman started watchmaking relatively late. She graduated in watchmaking and goldsmithing at Vakschool Schoonhoven in the Netherlands and studied watch decoration.
From 2019 to 2022, Dunselman worked at Grönefeld in Oldenzaal, and left to make her own watches under Dunselman Watchmaking, in Zwolle, the Netherlands.
I asked Annelinde, “Was there ever a moment you wanted to quit, to stop, to resign?“ She replied, I never thought of quitting this project at all. It seriously never occurred to me.
“I don’t know that from experience either, giving something up. I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life. I am not easily scared or startled or played out. I always feel guts and challenges and courage. I faced many bumps, again and again and it certainly hasn’t been easy. But for me (quoting Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way. I did experience a lot in these 2.5 years of working on the Black Tulip and that has always given me an even stronger will to be perfect.”
Annelinde Dunselman working at her bench
“Making my own watch is a bit like flying like an eagle high in the sky, seeing everything hearing everything and going where I want.”
For more information, please visit https://dunselmanwatchmaking.com/#annelinde-dunselman and/or @dunselman_watchmaking
Quick facts: Annelinde Dunselman Black Tulip
Indications: hours, minutes, small seconds
Movement: in-house developed caliber D202.5 with zero-reset mechanism, main plate and bridges rhodium plated, gold plated wheels and polished by hand, 100 hours power reserve, 3 Hz/21.600 A/h, 19 jewels, total parts: 125
Dial: Laser-engraved dial made of rhodium-plated brass with steel hands Case: 38 x 11.9 mm stainless steel case Glass: domed sapphire anti reflective glass
Strap: leather strap with handmade signature stainless steel pin buckle
Limitation: 10 pieces
Price: 38,000- eur0s (excluding shipping and taxes)
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I can vouch for Adenelline’s enthusiasm, passion. and efficiency. After reading your article, I have whatsapped and emailed her and she replied to me immediately. Unfortunately, the lug to lug of 50mm is too large for my small wrist. A lovely looking watch though.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I’m very pleased to read that. And yes, you had a similar experience to mine – Annelinde Dunselman is very straightforward and responds immediately. That alone gives you a very good feeling.
Certainly, the watch might be too big for some people, too expensive for others, some people may be unsure, the production figures will be low anyway – but in any case, the watch is very beautiful and I will certainly look at this watch or pictures of this watch again and again. If you don’t own it, that’s the second best option.
Thank you very much Shamsudin Mustafa
Yes, looks lovely in principle; however at this price point it’s a shame that at least 3 screws on the back are not centered properly within their polished sinks. And if it really is an in house movement, why is there nothing about the production and machining on her site, and only several mentions of how special black tulips are ?
Don’t get me wrong, this watch has a lot of promise, and seems well thought out. Better than most new releases in fact.
However, the terms ‘in house movement’ have been bandied about so often that it is a disservice to those brands /individuals that make major long term investments to take control of their production process – not just polishing up delivered bits and bobs designed and machined elsehwere, which seems to be the way the dutch and other non Swiss brands work?
If there is a CNC machine park for watch parts somewhere in ‘The Kingdom of the Netherlands’, then I would love to know where it is…..
Hi Jonathan, the photos are of her first prototype, not a production watch. Annelinde wanter to make sure that the movement worked as she hope it would (it does) before she started making her first 10 pieces.
Dunselman is not a manufacture and the Black Tulip does not have a ‘manufacture movement.. But it has been designed and the parts largely manufactured in Switzerland to Dunselman specifications and the movement is exclusive to Annelinde. It is not a modified off-the-shelf movement. She is not making all of the components, but is finishing, assembling, regulating, and testing, in The Netherlands. That’s qualifies as ‘in-house to me, but I know everyone has a different definition.
Regards, Ian
p.s. There are extremely few – you can count them on one hand with fingers to spare – independent watchmakers producing most, or even many, of their components themselves, the vast majority design their watches, outsource production, and finish, assemble, and test.
I agree that we should appreciate those brands, usually big brands that are mass producing watches – who have mastered production as well as everything else, but when you are a one-(wo)man-show (or any smallish brand), you have to focus on where you add value.
Thank you very much for your read and your precise feedback Jonathan,
my approach for articles like this one is to show the person, the maker, the emotion with only a bit of technical details, numbers, materials, definitions, machines. Showing interest for a piece like this, buying a watch from a single person maker, company, ‘house’ involves at least more than 50 % emotions aside from specifications, definitions, or rational calculations.
“Small, artistic, unknown, single, new,” … have been my guiding keywords.
Merci, regards, Thomas