Holthinrichs · A living archive Concept
From an architect’s first experiments to independent watchmaking. Explore the watches, the people and the moments that shaped Holthinrichs.
Explore the storyBefore the first watch
While studying architecture in Delft, Michiel became intrigued by the artistic expression and craftsmanship found in the ornament. In essence, a wrist watch is exactly that for the wearer: it is a small, but powerful expression of aesthetics and sophistication. Michiel’s journey towards Ornament 1 begins.
From the archive
Original photography to followA new craft in watchmaking
Michiel creates the first Ornament 1, brining his architectural approach to the wrist. Sculptural, open-worked case shapes are created using state-of-the-art 3D metal printing, leading to world’s first 3D printed stainless steel watch on the market. Spatial and material exploration are combined with well-balanced proportions, inspired by Art Deco, leading to a familiar, yet groundbreaking design that is the starting point of Holthinrichs Watches.
Delft · November 2016
Friends, collectors and the first watches come together at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft. This launch film preserves the excitement of an independent watchmaker stepping into the world.
Watch film A darker expression
The early Ornament family explores how a dial changes the character of a watch. Ruthenium gives the familiar case a quieter, darker centre, letting its polished edges and open spaces stand out.
A tribute to home
With its rich heritage in arts, crafts and science, Delft is a place of creating history. From renowned painted Johannes Vermeer, to scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the microscope. Since the mid-sixteenth century, the craft of refined hand-painted Delft Blue pottery started to flourish, making the blue on white synonymies for the city’s heritage. Our homage to the city of Delft has been at the core of our collection since 2017.
Light, texture and restraint
Satin Silver reveals another side of the original design. A pale dial and fine surface texture give the watch a softer presence while the distinctive case remains unmistakably Holthinrichs.
From the archive
Original photography to followWorld's first
Holthinrichs stays true to the city’s heritage, by introducing world’s first solid gold 3D printed timepiece on the market. Ornament 1 in 18k Rose Gold, featuring the handmade white lacquer dial with deep blue pad-printing.
Making the details · Film published in 2018
Behind every finished dial is a sequence of small, deliberate operations. The atelier film follows pad printing: a brief glimpse of the work that turns a design into a watch, one detail at a time.
Watch film Introducing Horlogerie Brut
RAW Ornament embraces the intrinsic beauty of the 3D printed metal, creating a whole new aesthetic. The characteristics of the production method and materials become an integral part of the design, which we’ve baptised as ‘Horlogerie Brut’. Expressive contrasts of textures combined with structural clearness are derived from early modernist architecture, like Le Corbusier’s ‘béton brut’.
Gold, platinum and bespoke work
Ornament 1 becomes a platform for individual expression. Gold and platinum expand its material language, while bespoke work lets collectors enter the design process and make an already personal object their own.
From the archive
Original photography to followWith Revolution
A collaboration built around contrasts: a raw case and textured dial meet polished Breguet numerals. Brutal Elegance sharpens the tension between industrial surfaces and classical watchmaking.
From the archive
Original photography to followWith The Rake
The companion edition turns towards restraint. A polished case and white lacquer dial give Ornament 1 a more formal voice, showing how far the same architectural foundation can travel.
From the archive
Original photography to followTime leaves a trace
Bronze makes change part of the watch itself. Texture and patina deepen the sculptural quality of RAW, allowing its surfaces to evolve with time and wear. A living expression of Horlogerie Brut.
The first fracture
Familiar numerals begin to break apart. PreLiminality takes the Ornament language into more expressive territory, where disruption is intentional and the dial starts to feel like a small landscape.
Beauty under pressure
The fractured landscape grows more radical. Without conventional numerals, the eye follows the dial’s broken surfaces and carefully placed diamonds: an optimistic image of something new emerging from disruption.
Malachite · Announced December 2022
Malachite brings a natural pattern into the Ornament family. Its green bands give every dial an individual character, adding another material voice to a collection built around personal expression.
Taking the watch apart, visually
What remains when a watch is reduced to its essential structures? DECONSTRUCTED opens up the familiar form and recomposes it as an airy, sculptural object. The case, dial and empty space become one architectural composition.
Micro Rotor · Project archive 2023
The archive also holds a RAW Micro Rotor project. Its place in the story deserves more than a name: the original images, development story and date will complete this chapter.
From the archive
Original photography to followA new everyday chapter
Signature translates the Holthinrichs design language into a new collection. Sculptural lugs and a layered dial carry the architectural identity forward, making room for a different kind of daily companion.
A familiar colour, reimagined
Delft Blue returns in the Signature family. The connection to the city remains, while a new case and dial composition give this recurring theme a different rhythm.
A place to experiment
Alongside Signature comes LAB: a space for limited experiments. The printed case remains an expressive surface, inviting unusual textures, colours and details that push the family in new directions.
Architecture, inside and out
Ornament Nouveau brings a long-held ambition into view: an in-house developed movement within a fully integrated sculptural design. The HW-M02 calibre becomes part of the architecture, carrying the original idea beyond the case and into the heart of the watch.
PHILLIPS · HK$736,600
A unique Ornament Nouveau, created for the eleventh anniversary of The Lavish Attic, reached HK$736,600 at Phillips in Hong Kong. Against a published estimate in excess of HK$170,000, the result marked a striking moment of international recognition for the Delft atelier.
WITH THE HOROLOGY CLUB · DECEMBER 2024
Hong Kong becomes a material as well as an inspiration. Created with The Horology Club, Concrete Jungle brings a luminous concrete dial into the Signature family. By day its texture echoes the city; after dark, the dial reveals a different character.
THE ARSENAAL · DELFT
The atelier opens a new chapter in Delft's former national armoury. Architecture is no longer only an influence on the watches: the historic building becomes the setting for the next stage of making, experimenting and welcoming collectors.
From the archive
Original photography to followPATINA AND GOLD · WITH THE DIAL ARTIST
LAB Series 1.24 brings two workshops into one dial. Holthinrichs creates the textured patina in Delft; in Scotland, Chris Alexander — The Dial Artist — applies gold leaf by hand. Returning to Delft for assembly, each dial carries its own meeting of colour, texture and light.
The Holthinrichs Rallye · Geneva
The story also belongs to the people around the watches. The Geneva rally brings the community together on the road, adding movement, conversation and shared memories to the collection’s history.
Watch film LAB collaboration · Documented in 2025
The YPO collaboration belongs to the more personal side of LAB: a collection that can become the starting point for a shared project. This chapter will be completed with the collaborators’ story and original photography.
Ten years, still exploring
A decade after the first launch, LAB continues the exploration with small seconds and a second time zone. The collection moves forward through new functions, patinated surfaces and the same appetite for distinctive form.
A unique prize · The Holthinrichs Rallye
Created in our atelier for the 2026 Geneva Rallye, this unique piece was awarded to the crew behind the most compelling photograph of a Holthinrichs on the road. A one-off watch linking the event, the community and the craft.
FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
A blue dial, an open case and a carefully finished movement reveal different sides of Ornament Perpetual. These archive photographs move from the complete watch to the architecture within.
Date to be confirmed.
REVOLUTION / THE RAKE ARCHIVE
A white dial and raised numerals meet the open curves of the Ornament case. The photographs follow the watch from its polished profile to the movement on the reverse, bringing the small details of this collaboration into view.
Date to be confirmed.
The story continues
This is a first selection from the archive. More photographs, films and personal stories will follow.
Follow the atelier ↗