Habring2 Erwin is realized thanks to its intelligent design the Made in Austria, manufacture A11 not only enabled the replacement of previous movements but also a number of new developments. The modular addition of the jumping second – in 2007 Habring² was the first manufacturer to present such a new design – turns the A11B (Basis) into the A11S (jumping second). And its installation in the slim 38.5 mm case means Felix now has a twin brother named Erwin. Erwin is at least as handsome and just as big as its older twin, although slightly more plump. Its movement with the jumping second is still a slim 5.7 mm and its 9 mm case fits comfortably beneath even snug-fitting sleeve cuffs. This is made possible by the new design of the jumping second that is much flatter in comparison to earlier hand-wound watch movements with this little complication.
Erwin‘s heartbeat is determined by hand-mounted and adjusted escapement parts that is made in-house – very much in the old-fashioned manner – and therefore has no need to fear even the most challenging trials. Erwin‘s case is 100% Made in Austria – as are those of every member of the Habring² family. The raw material is tempered in the smelter of world famous steel specialist Böhler of Kapfenberg and then processed by metalworking experts.

The fine-grained, silver-white dial with its discreet minimalist print and the black oxidized steel hands in thread form (also available in blued steel on request) are features Erwin shares with his twin. The dial now features second markers and the accurately jumping second hand jumps from one marker to the next with the greatest precision.
And because every birthday deserves a gift, both brothers – Felix and Erwin – have received a new Sunday suit: The new silver dial with a discreet brushed metal finish and completely smooth, red gold plated hour bars and digits is made using the covering technique applied to classic examples from the 1950s. The matching red gold plated hands lend the two twins even more distinguished noblesse – especially in comparison to the more reserved dial/hand variants that remain available.
Another of Erwin’s firsts is a new slim 18 mm folding buckle made of stainless steel that is now available for both models as part of the extensive range of ostrich leather and calfskin straps.

Erwin is available as of now with both dial variants at a price of $6,400USD. Felix remains the Habring² entry level model at a price of $5,2 00USD also for the new dial.

A11 calibre family

Between 2007 and 2014 Habring² movements were based on the Valjoux 7750/7760 clockwork. Due to the well-known withdrawal by ETA – and also to ensure future production – it was only logical for Maria & Richard Habring to create a worthy replacement themselves.
In addition to the entire clockwork, winding mechanism and hand movement mechanism, their task also included designing and manufacturing the escapement and balance wheel with balance spring. Whilst competitors – armed with industrial processes and high, generously subsidised investments in machine pools – attempt to come close to the former ETA prices, the Habrings have decided to take another route: “We will exploit our small company structure in future to focus even more on the high manually added value of our watches.”
The team at Habring² has perfected the manual assembly of anchors, counting balance springs and the manual production of clockwork cogwheels in accordance with traditional techniques. Counting and bending enough finished balance springs to last a month takes about a day’s work.

Erwin’s technical details

Habring² A11S movement:

 Diameter: 30 mm; height: 5.7 mm
 Centre-mounted hour hand, minute hand and jumping second hand
 28,800 half oscillations per hour (4Hz)
 Hand-wound movement with 48 hours of power reserve
 Fine adjustment via tangential screw
 Amagnetic escapement with a Carl Haas balance spring in chronometer quality
 KIF shockproof pursuant to DIN and NIHS
 21 rubies
 Elaborately refined by hand with polished edges, decorative grinding, perlage, etc.
 65 service-relevant individual parts (126 parts in total)

Case:

 Stainless steel, three-part, 38.5 mm in diameter, 9.0 mm in height
 Watertight to the depth equivalent of 30 metres
 Spherical sapphire lens
 Double-sealed crown, sapphire base
 Consecutive serial number engraved between the lugs at 6 o’clock

Dial/hands:

 Silver-white granular metal dial with black print or silver-white calendered metal dial with red gold plated hour bars/digits and black print
 Polished, black oxidised steel hands in thread form or polished red gold plated hands

Habring2 Erwin-white lacquer with blued handset

Habring2 Erwin Scientific-salmon

Habring² Erwin “Scientific” V2 2018 (USD$7,400)

More information: http://www.habring2.com

Habring² Erwin “Scientific” for N.America, 2017

Habring² Erwin with rose handset and markers on a silver dial.