Patience suits Oldenzaal. After decades of friendship with Geneva-based engraver Kees Engelbarts, Bart and Tim Grönefeld unveil a single collector set of seven watches, each devoted to one of the Seven Sins. It is a quiet collision of métiers: Dutch horology meeting hand-engraved narrative art, made once and only once.
The dials take their cue from Jacques Callot’s etchings, translated by Engelbarts into sculptural relief. The result reads like metal bas-relief rather than painted allegory. Even Rembrandt was said to have collected Callot’s work, which tells you something about the source material’s gravity. Each scene sits within Grönefeld’s 1941 stainless steel case – 39.5 mm in diameter and 10.5 mm thick.
Behind the art, the mechanics remain disciplined. Each watch is powered by Grönefeld’s automatic Calibre G-06. Its stainless steel bridges mirror Dutch bell gables, a familiar house signature, here hand-bevelled to a clean gleam with jewels set in gold chatons. A small gold plate names the corresponding Sin. Nothing shouts. It simply rewards a loupe.
Though bound by theme, no two watches are alike. Colors and straps are individually matched to each scene, lending seven distinct voices to a single choir. Presentation is suitably singular: a one-meter-long Fedon-made box from Italy. The brothers call it the Grönometer, Engelbarts the ChronoMaître. One box, one owner.
This unique set of seven is priced at € 497,000. Local taxes and duties may apply. It will be presented at Watches and Wonders in Geneva from 14 to 20 April 2026, where the Grönefeld booth in the Carré des Horlogers will also show other models from the collection.
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