Holthinrichs Ornament Nouveau Spirit Of Blue. This exceptional timepiece integrates innovative technology, 3D metal printing, and extensive haute horlogerie finishing within a groundbreaking, sculptural design language.
ORNAMENT NOUVEAU marks the beginning of Holthinrichs Haute Horlogerie—a new branch dedicated to creating horological art. It represents the culmination of our boundless creativity and our ambition to craft the most beautiful three-dimensional wrist sculptures, while building an independent manufacturing ecosystem, developing in-house movements, and employing high-end manual finishing.
DESIGN INSPIRATION
Inspired by its name, “ORNAMENT NOUVEAU,” Michiel drew from the Art Nouveau movement. A defining feature of Art Nouveau is its emulation of beautiful, organic shapes found in nature. This intrinsic beauty reveals itself even in the smallest details, where each element contributes to a unified whole. Art Nouveau, perhaps more than any other architectural style, aspires to this level of natural integration, enabled by contemporary innovations in technology and materials that allowed designers to push creative boundaries.
CASE DESIGN
ORNAMENT NOUVEAU’s case stands out with its unique and innovative three-dimensional design, inspired by both Art Nouveau and the beauty of nature. Its flowing, sculpted lugs wrap dynamically around the caseband, creating an immediately recognizable look. These lugs are elegantly joined to the main case in a stunning architectural manner, with slender, barely visible joints and graceful curves that unify the case into a cohesive design. The result is a three-dimensional sculpture with spectacular openworked structures that invite interaction, engaging your senses and sparking curiosity to explore how it was created.
3D METAL PRINTING
ORNAMENT NOUVEAU could only be realized through our extensive expertise in 3D manufacturing. By utilizing the latest advancements in high-end 3D metal printing, we combine this level of elegance with the sophisticated technology required in watchmaking.
The intricate process of metal binder jetting is highly complex: the printing chamber is first filled with titanium grade 5 particles, each extremely uniform in size. Layers of 50 μm are then created by a nozzle applying a binder to the powder. Building all the layers for a single case can take up to 24 hours. Afterward, the object undergoes sintering at approximately 1300 degrees Celsius, where the binder dissolves and the metal fuses to form the final watch case. This process is delicate and prone to error, requiring each model to be meticulously inspected and measured to ensure it meets our exact specifications.
MANUALFINISHING
After 3D printing and passing quality control, the case undergoes CNC milling to create precise fittings for the caseback, movement, and crystal. Only then can the complex sculpted shapes move to the final stage of selective manual finishing. Due to its intricate design, this stage requires the hands of our most skilled craftsmen, who dedicate an entire week of filing and brushing to bring out the design’s beauty.
The case is finished in a style emblematic of our work, designed to emphasize modern aesthetics, advanced manufacturing techniques, and our commitment to hand finishing. In specific areas, coarse textures directly from the 3D printing process are preserved for their intrinsic brutalist appeal, contrasted with hand-finished details that enhance the clean lines of the overall design.
KALIBER HW-M02
ORNAMENT NOUVEAU features our first in-house developed HW-M02 movement in a spectacular, unprecedented sculptural design that fully reflects the overall design language of the watch.
HW-M02 is a huge step for both us, and the Netherlands. A caliber that is developed, built, finished and assembled in the Netherlands. Crucial in this development is the relationship we built over the years with a precision manufacturer near Rotterdam that is used to make highly specialized, high precision instruments for medical purposes.
Until so far we collaborated for the manufacturing is specific parts to create hands. Once we decided to commence on the development of ORNAMENT NOUVEAU, we partnered up for the manufacturing of the parts for complete ébauche.
ORNAMENT NOUVEAU is our first step in realizing our dream to build and manage a solid manufacturing ecosystem for locally produced movements components, acting independent from foreign groups and maintaining our creativity and contributing to the realization of a local watchmaking industry.
OUR INNOVATIVE UV-SENSITIVE ECLIPSE DIAL
One of the most striking features of the ORNAMENT NOUVEAU is its Eclipse dial. Crafted from a photochromic compound, this innovative dial undergoes a continuous transition between transparency and smoke-black hues, depending on the lighting conditions. Indoors, it allows you to admire the meticulously finished movement beneath the surface. However, the moment sunlight touches it outdoors, the dial transforms into a smoke-black surface. This shift redirects attention to the prominently finished sword-shaped hands and the architectural case, while only leaving subtle glimpses of the hand-beveled, high-gloss anglage of the bridges below.
The concept of the Eclipse dial was inspired by a more poetic and contemplative approach to timekeeping. While the hands provide the precise time of day, the ever-changing dial reflects the passage of time in harmony with varying locations and conditions, grounding you in the present moment. This dial process is beyond your control, encouraging you to embrace the present and shifting focus to different elements of the watch. In this way, the watch doesn’t simply serve you—it engages with you, offering an experience where the timepiece subtly takes the lead.
A HORNBACK ALLIGATOR STRAP
With the conception of ORNAMENT NOUVEAU and its three dimensional shapes, it was obvious to us that this model needed an exceptional strap to complete the whole concept. Nothing else other than nature can emphasise our strive for organic design more, so it was immediately clear to Michiel that the strap had to be crafted out of the - often overlooked - but most beautiful part of the noble alligator creature: the tail. Its superb scales can bring an unprecedented depth and a sense of luxury. It is very tough and thus a very difficult material to work with. We selected three ateliers we highly respect for their beautiful workmanship, resulting in one unparalleled result.
