America’s biggest luxury watch event, WatchTime New York, wrapped up this weekend, and brought to its record number of guests several timepieces making their very first appearance to the public. Among them is the new ATUM Pure Skull from Glashutte-based boutique brand Moritz Grossmann. Here’s a closer look.

As with previous models in Moritz Grossmann’s flagship ATUM Pure collection, the watch’s dial features two distinctive rings for the minute and hour indications. However, in this new model, a stylized skull motif in the dial’s center takes the place of its predecessors’ familiar ?Mesh? and ?Long Hole? dial inserts. The proprietary design offers dial-side glimpses of the movement, Caliber 201.1. The skull is milled and wire-cut with electrical discharge machines, its surface polished or sandblasted to match the case, and then assembled with the remaining dial elements ? a manufacturing approach that lends itself to incorporating other motifs or symbols motifs on future models’ dials. The lance-shaped, stainless steel hands, crafted by hand at the company’s Saxon manufacture, and are filled with black HyCeram to coordinate with the hour markers.
Moritz Grossmann’s manual-wound Caliber 201.1  is even more in evidence through the watch’s sapphire display caseback. Specifically designed to be cased in stainless steel, it sports the brand “Pure-Classic finish,” with German silver plates are shot-peen...