Dedicated toAstronomical Watchmaking
Astronomy has defined Christiaan van der Klaauw since the first atelier was established in 1974. Today, that focus continues in Het Arsenaal in Naarden, where astronomical complications, mechanical movements and individual watches are brought together under one roof.
Every CVDK is built around an astronomical indication. Planetary orbits, lunar cycles and the movement of the night sky are translated into mechanisms that make these immense celestial periods visible on the wrist.
The work is produced in deliberately small numbers, allowing each watch to receive the attention required by mechanisms of this complexity.
Made atHuman Scale
The calculations behind an astronomical complication may describe movements on a planetary scale, but the final work takes place at the watchmaker's bench.
Components are assembled, adjusted and regulated by hand. Traditional machinery remains part of the atelier alongside modern design and manufacturing methods, particularly where direct control over a component or adjustment matters.
It is this close relationship between development and physical watchmaking that allows an astronomical mechanism to move from an idea on paper to a functioning watch.
A Movementof Our Own
The introduction of the CVDK manufacture movement in 2024 marked an important step for the atelier. Developed to form the mechanical foundation for a new generation of astronomical watches, it brings the movement and the complications built around it closer together.
Its construction includes a free-sprung hairspring, variable-inertia balance wheel and a 60-hour power reserve. Star-shaped bridges, hand-applied circular finishing and the skeletonised CVDK sun rotor give the movement an identity that is visible through the caseback as clearly as the astronomical complication is visible from the front.
The WatchmakersBehind CVDK
A small team of specialist watchmakers assembles, adjusts and finishes every CVDK in the atelier in Naarden. Their work combines traditional watchmaking with the precision required by CVDK’s astronomical complications.
Pim Koeslag
CEO & Master Watchmaker
Recognised inHaute Horlogerie
CVDK's specialist approach to astronomical watchmaking has also been recognised beyond the atelier. In 2016, Christiaan van der Klaauw was recognised by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie as a Haute Horlogerie watchmaker.
Astronomy
For Christiaan van der Klaauw, astronomy does not begin with the appearance of a dial. It determines how the mechanism itself must behave.
The orbit of a planet, the phases of the Moon or the apparent movement of the stars first has to be understood as a celestial cycle. Only then can that information be translated into mechanical ratios and displayed through a watch.
This connection between observation and mechanics has remained at the centre of CVDK from the earliest astronomical clocks to the complications developed in Naarden today.
From Joureto Naarden
Christiaan van der Klaauw established his own atelier in Joure in 1974, initially creating astronomical clocks before turning his attention to the wrist.
More than fifty years later, that same fascination with mechanical astronomy continues in Naarden, shaped by successive generations of watchmakers, designers and astronomical complications.
Insidethe Atelier
A closer look at the people, tools, movements and details behind Christiaan van der Klaauw astronomical watches.
