Bart and Tim Grönefeld, the Dutch horological brothers behind the GPHG-winning 1941 Remontoire, just launched an entirely separate brand: GRØNE (pronounced "gruh-nuh"), based in the same Oldenzaal workshop. This is not a Grönefeld sub-line, not an entry Grönefeld, not a rebadged 1941. It is its own brand, with its own catalogue, at a much lower price point. Its first watch is the Horologium: a 39mm stainless steel three-hander, hand-finished movement, salmon or Dutch-orange dial, €2,390 excluding VAT. Order window opens 13 August 2026 at 3pm CET. 188 pieces per dial variant. Not repeated.
What GRØNE is, and what it is not
GRØNE is a standalone brand, not a sub-line of Grönefeld. Different name, different logo, different catalogue, different price. Same brothers, same building, same finishing culture. The two brands share people and a workshop, not a badge, and Bart and Tim are explicit about that: this is a second brand, not an extension of the first.
The Grönefeld atelier stays exactly what it was: roughly 40 haute-horlogerie pieces a year, hand-finished on-site, 1941 Principia from around €55,000, 1941 Grönograaf over €160,000, Decennium tourbillon over €250,000. GRØNE is a separate operation aimed at a different collector at a much lower price bracket. €2,390 for the Horologium is not "entry Grönefeld"; it is a different brand entirely.
The Horologium: specs and shape
- Case: 39mm stainless steel, 10mm thick, satin-brushed caseband, polished bezel and caseback. Lugs curve downward for wrist wrap.
- Movement: Manual-wind Swiss La Joux-Perret calibre, hand-finished with Côtes de Genève, polished anglage, and heat-blued screws. 60-hour power reserve. First three-hander from either brand to get a sapphire display back.
- Complications: Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6. No date. No moon. No fuss.
- Water resistance: 5 ATM (50 metres).
- Detail flourishes: Orange gaskets on the case (a discreet Dutch marker), sapphire crystal front and back, engraved caseback carrying the Dutch saying "Zoals het klokje thuis tikt, tikt het nergens" ("there is nowhere the clock ticks quite like home").
- Price: €2,390 ex VAT, ex tariffs, ex shipping.
- Production: 188 pieces per dial variant. Two variants confirmed. Not repeated once sold.
Two dials, two different watches
The Horologium launches in two dial configurations, and they are genuinely different watches on the wrist:
- Something Classic. Salmon dial with a sunburst treatment, raised small-seconds plateau, flame-blued hands, diamond-cut applied indices. This is the piece that reads as a proper dress watch and photographs like a shrunk-down 1941 Principia. It is the one most collectors have already picked.
- Something Quirky. Cream dial with Dutch orange and baby blue accents, heat-blued hands, diamond-cut polished indices, and an engraved caseback that carries the "Zoals het klokje thuis tikt" line. It is the piece with the personality, the Instagram-first design, and the more explicit Dutch identity.
Both variants are 188 pieces, both come on a leather strap with a steel pin buckle, both use the same movement, same case, same crystal. The choice is genuinely about which dial you want to look at every day.
Why the movement choice matters
The Horologium runs a manual La Joux-Perret base with GRØNE finishing on top. That is a very deliberate call. At €2,390 nobody expects an in-house calibre; if the brothers had gone in-house the price would sit closer to €15,000 and the accessibility promise would be over before it started. Instead, GRØNE has taken a reliable Swiss base, applied Grönefeld-grade decoration (Côtes de Genève, polished anglage, blued screws, all visible through the sapphire back), and left the value equation intact. It is the same approach Studio Underd0g used to build a following without pretending to be Rexhep Rexhepi.
The 60-hour reserve is enough for a Friday off. The manual winding means the buyer is a person who enjoys the ritual. And the display back means you actually see what the price bought you.
The order window opens on 13 August 2026 at 3pm Amsterdam CET. Reservations are handled directly through grone.com (no dealer network, no waiting list, no allocation game). Payment is due at reservation. Expected deliveries start mid-September 2026. 188 pieces per dial variant, not repeated.
Where this fits in 2026
Under-€3,000 hand-finished mechanical watches from independents with a serious pedigree are exactly the corner of the market that has been growing since Studio Underd0g, Furlan Marri, and Baltic showed there was demand for a proper three-hander that was not a Tudor. GRØNE arrives with an unfair advantage: it is not owned by Grönefeld, it is a separate brand run by the same brothers, which means the finishing culture of one of the most respected independent ateliers in Europe is being applied to a watch that costs one-twentieth of a 1941 Principia.
The interesting question is whether GRØNE stays a one-watch project or grows into a real second brand with its own follow-up references. Bart and Tim have not committed publicly to what comes next. The Horologium is 376 pieces, likely gone in a week if the launch matches the interest. What comes after that will decide whether GRØNE is a one-off experiment or the actual second brand from Oldenzaal.
The verdict, one paragraph
At €2,390 for a hand-finished, La Joux-Perret-powered, 39mm steel three-hander from the brothers who won the GPHG for the 1941 Remontoire, the Horologium is the sort of watch that gets bought first and reviewed second. The salmon "Something Classic" reads as a proper dress watch. The Dutch-orange "Something Quirky" reads as a personality piece. Both are 188 pieces, both are gone if the launch matches the noise, and both are the strongest signal yet that independent watchmaking has figured out the accessible-price puzzle. Set an alarm for 13 August 3pm.
Comments
No comments yet, be the first to weigh in.