Marco and I then headed back towards Dresden through the snowy fields of Saxony to meet up with the other young artisanal independent watchmakers at Pöhlmann-Bresan. Joseph Bresan and Lucas Pöhlmann, two German based watchmakers in Dresden, who both had previously worked for Marco at Lang & Heyne. They decided to team up two years ago and create their own watch in Dresden. I have been following them online for number of months and they had reached out to me about some design aspects of the dial and asked my opinion which, I think they did pay attention to. They also changed the company name to their surnames, which I think is more in line with the independent artisanal watchmakers, as they are the actual watchmakers and it is not a brand.

Lukas on the left, Josef, middle and yours truly eagerly examining their Prestige prototype, on the right.

The Prestige prototype piece they showed me had a lovely blue dial with baton indices and hands made in polish steel. In person, as is often the case, the watch was much better than the images I’d seen online previously, and the movement, which is based on an old caliber, actually a Lip caliber, so a French caliber. It was then licensed in the communist years to Russian manufacturers under the name of a Pobeda 2608 caliber. This basic ebauche has been turned into something spectacular by Lukas and Josef with a much more interesting three-dimensional open bridge, that holds the central seconds train. One can clearly see that there is a lot of hand finishing that goes on in this movement, and the balance wheel cock as well as the central second bridge, have received a lot of anglage and inward angle bevels.

The Prestige prototype with blue dial and the original caliber on the bench in the background.

I think this watch represents a lot of highly talented watchmaking time and design by these two gentlemen. They also added a stop second mechanism to the caliber, which is cleverly hidden under the center bridge. The balance wheel features 14 karat gold mass weights for the fine regulation, and under a 10x loupe I must say the anglage is very high quality. Lukas and Josef are both passionate fellows who are keen to continue building watches of very high-quality in that workshop in Dresden. As they showed me around it was impressive.

Where the double snailing on the ratchet wheel is created.

Before double snailing and after on the right.

One of the additions as mentioned above to the original caliber, that Josef and Lukas have created is a Stop Seconds mechanism, which actuates on the balance wheel. This “brake” is essentially a very fine spring that is pushed up against the oscillating balance wheel when the crown is activated and releases the balance wheel when the crown is depressed after time setting. This allows for precise setting to the second of one’s Pöhlmann-Bresan Prestige watch. Another nod to precision watchmaking that is a hallmark of these two German watchmakers.

The "stop brake" for the balance wheel is seen here on the left, with the very fine spring section on the lower portion of the part. Their beautifully hand polished steel hands lie to the right.

Here you can see many parts before and after the hand finishing has been applied to the parts.

Central skeletonised seconds bridge receiving anglage

A barrel bridge undergoing beveling (anglage)

Fascinating for me, was the raw ebauche caliber that they use as the basis for their caliber and in this picture you can see it next to the watch, quite an upgrade was my comment to the lads!

Lucas is a big fan of antique watches as well and antique watchmaking tools, and he was very excited to show me an old tool from Glashütte used for checking the balance wheels. Throughout the workshop of Pöhlmnan-Bresan, I was happy to see many tools of the trade, that you see again and again in other workshops.

An old Glashütte made tool for balance wheel checking.

Lukas, Marco and myself then had a late lunch/early dinner and I was then dropped off at the Christmas market in Dresden. The following day was a day in nature in the Saxony Alps or Swiss Saxony with Marco and his wife. It was a spectacular morning of vigorous walking in the snow to get up to the viewpoint above the river Elba. The remainder of the day was spent in central Dresden, and seeing the local Christmas markets. They are well worth a visit, if one is in Germany during December.

The central Christmas Market in Dresden.

The following morning was the beginning of another day of travel, and this time back to Geneva to go and see Independent Watchmakers in Switzerland. The Neustadt train station in Dresden was impressive.