Brand: Glashütte Original | Model: Senator Meissen Cherry Blossom | Reference: 1-36-16-05-05-01 | Category: Luxury Dress Watch / Hand-Painted Porcelain Dial | Release Year: 2026
Last updated: October 8, 2026
The Glashütte Original Senator Meissen Cherry Blossom (Ref. 1-36-16-05-05-01) is a 2026 limited edition that pairs a hand-painted Meissen porcelain dial with a 40mm 18k red gold case. Pink and white cherry blossoms are kiln-fired layer by layer onto white porcelain and set beneath solid 5N gold hands. Inside is the in-house automatic Calibre 36-16 with a 100-hour power reserve.
The Senator Meissen Cherry Blossom is the fourth porcelain-dial watch from the partnership between Glashütte Original and MEISSEN, Europe's oldest porcelain manufactory. Both houses are based in Saxony. The 2025 debut trio used the ornamental "Mystic Maison" and "Collage" motifs. This 2026 edition turns to one of the most recognisable images in decorative art, the flowering cherry branch. The motif draws on winter-flowering cherries such as Japan's Jugatsu-zakura, which can bloom as early as October, so the watch's autumn launch is fitting. MEISSEN artisans paint the dial by hand on an ultra-thin porcelain disc. Each colour layer is fired separately, so no two dials are identical. The dial has no indices. Only two solid 5N gold hands and MEISSEN's crossed-swords signet interrupt the artwork. The case is deliberately quiet: 40mm in polished 18k red gold, 10.2mm thick and 47.09mm lug to lug. It is a true dress-watch size for most wrists. A domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides sits over the dial. A sapphire caseback shows Calibre 36-16, which has a silicon hairspring, Glashütte stripe finishing, a hand-engraved balance cock and a skeletonised rotor with a solid gold oscillating weight. For collectors, it is a rare meeting of German haute horlogerie and 300-year-old porcelain craft. It is a time-only art piece more than a daily tool.
Porcelain dials are among the rarest métiers d'art in watchmaking. The 2025 Senator Meissen editions were limited to 150, 150 and just 8 pieces. Because each dial is hand-painted and kiln-fired, every Cherry Blossom is unique. Expect very limited boutique allocation and strong appeal to collectors of artistic dials over the long term.
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