n Delft, history has always had an explosive quality. Quite literally, to begin with.

The Dutch city was repeatedly shaken by the detonation of its gunpowder stores. During the 17th century, the young Dutch Republic established its arsenal and black-powder reserves here, in a city that had become strategically important after the emancipation of the Dutch provinces from Spanish rule. On 12 October 1654, at 10:30 in the morning, Delft was devastated by the explosion of some 30 tonnes of gunpowder.

Yet Delft’s history is equally explosive for another reason: the extraordinary economic, technological and cultural dynamism it experienced during the Dutch Golden Age, when the United Provinces dominated European trade, science and the arts. Renowned for its distinctive blue pottery – Delft Blue – the city was then among the most influential in the Netherlands, rivaling Amsterdam in both prestige and importance.

Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), Delft’s most celebrated native son, immortalised the city in his famous View of Delft - a painting that prominently features the site of the former arsenal, now home to the Holthinrichs atelier. Another native, Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), helped lay the intellectual foundations of modern international law. Nearby, Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) developed the first practical pendulum clock, changing the course of horological history.

In its own way, Holthinrichs continues this tradition of innovation. The company occupies the upper floor of Delft’s former armoury, erected in 1602 as part of a military complex between two canals. Beautifully restored yet rich in historical character, the site now also houses a hotel, a restaurant and a performance venue.

One of Holthinrichs’ defining specialties is the design of titanium components produced through advanced metal additive manufacturing. Here again, the notion of explosiveness is never far away: the metallic powders fused by lasers during the 3D-printing process present significant combustion and explosion risks.

Only a highly specialised production facility in Sweden, operating under oxygen-free clean-room conditions, is capable of mastering this demanding process. It supplies the raw printed components that arrive in Delft to be brushed, polished and bead-blasted before receiving the refined finishing expected of contemporary haute horlogerie.

Ancient fortresses and Le Corbusier

Together with 36-year-old founder Michiel Holthinrichs, we walk through the expansive rooms of his new headquarters, installed within this remarkable military building. The cannons once stationed here were reportedly “borrowed” by Napoleon during his passage through the city. The massive weighing scale used for cannonballs, however, remains firmly in place.

The setting encapsulates the essence of the brand launched in 2016: a uniquely Dutch blend of historical heritage, radical engineering and architectural thinking.

Unlike fellow Dutch watchmaking luminaries Bart and Tim Grönefeld, Holthinrichs did not come to watchmaking through a family tradition. His path began in architecture. “By the age of eight, I already knew I wanted to become an architect,” he recalls. His childhood was shaped by family trips to France in an ageing Peugeot 504 (he remains a big fan of the 504 Coupé designed by Aldo Brovarone). There, family friends had purchased a ruined château in central France and spent decades restoring it. For the young Michiel, the property became an endless source of fascination: six acres of land scattered with medieval foundations, hidden chambers and collapsed tunnels.

“I actually feel more at home there than here,” he admits. “One day, I hope I can buy that château myself.”

It was there that his passion for architecture first took root - and more specifically for military structures and fortifications, which would later become the subject of his graduation thesis.

Their complex geometries continue to influence Holthinrichs watch design today, as evidenced by the sketches and drawings displayed throughout the company’s vast atelier in the heart of Delft, a 700-square-metre space extending through a succession of former arsenal rooms.

During his architectural studies in Delft - having grown up in the north of the Netherlands - Holthinrichs also immersed himself in more recent artistic movements. Art Nouveau became a major source of inspiration for the flowing, organic forms of his watches. Equally important was Brutalism, and particularly Le Corbusier, with whom he maintains what he describes as a love-hate relationship.

“I love the honesty of the materials and the rawness of the architecture,” he says. “What I like less is the philosophy behind it. It can feel too rigid.”

A certain idea of beauty

His mother is an artist. His father restores classic automobiles. Money was never really the central subject at home; beauty, however, certainly was. Art Nouveau, meticulous craftsmanship, noble materials and the subtle poetry of patina formed the backdrop of his upbringing, profoundly shaping the way he would later approach both architecture and watchmaking.

After completing his studies, Holthinrichs joined several architecture firms, spending six years in a profession he gradually saw becoming increasingly standardised. “In the Netherlands, property development has largely become a builders’ business,” he explains. “Architects are asked for a concept sketch, after which everything is optimised for cost efficiency.” The process left him frustrated. “My parents taught me to pursue beauty.”

Alongside his professional work, he developed a growing fascination with traditional craftsmanship. A flatmate with a passion for handmade footwear introduced him to the world of artisanal shoemaking, prompting Holthinrichs to experiment with sewing techniques and textile modification himself. Then came the pocket watch. “I wanted to dress with a certain personality, perhaps in a slightly English way. I would attend architecture presentations carrying a 1920s Omega pocket watch. Looking back, people in that environment must have thought I was completely ridiculous,” he laughs.

Yet opening the movement of that watch proved a genuine revelation. “Everything that already fascinated me was there, condensed into a miniature world: architecture, design, mechanics and craftsmanship.” Before long, he was collecting vintage chronographs and developing a particular affection for Landeron calibres. Like countless enthusiasts before him, he spent hours dismantling movements, studying their construction and experimenting with their mechanisms. Gradually, a new idea took shape. Instead of designing buildings, why not design watches?

The early promise of 3D printing

In 2012, Michiel Holthinrichs produced his first watch sketches. A year later, the first complete design followed. The challenge, however, was manufacturing. Unlike Switzerland, the Netherlands offered virtually no industrial ecosystem dedicated to watchmaking. Suppliers were scarce, specialised know-how difficult to access and conventional production methods prohibitively expensive for a young designer working alone.

The solution came from a technology he had encountered during his architectural studies: metal additive manufacturing. At the time, industrial 3D printing remained largely confined to highly specialised sectors such as aerospace, medicine and dentistry. “People often imagine 3D printing as something democratic and accessible,” he says. “That may be true at a hobby level, but not if you want to produce serious components. A single machine represents close to one million euros of investment, before even considering the highly specialised personnel required to operate it. The processes are slow, expensive and technically demanding. Many companies never managed to recover their investment.”

Nevertheless, a service provider in Bristol agreed to explore the possibility. Through that initial contact, Holthinrichs was introduced to a Belgian specialist involved in experimental artistic projects, including gradient aluminium furniture pieces now exhibited at MoMA. “When I asked whether watch components could be printed, the owner told me: ‘That’s never been done before.’ Then he paused and added: ‘Which is exactly why it’s interesting.’”

That moment effectively became the founding principle of Holthinrichs. The objective was never to use 3D printing as a low-cost industrial shortcut, but rather as a means of creating geometries impossible to achieve through conventional manufacturing techniques. Organic cases, sculptural forms and architectural complexity quickly became signatures of the brand.

At the time, Holthinrichs was still working on his graduation thesis - devoted, fittingly enough, to military fortifications - when his first customer contacted him via Facebook. The client was about to get married and wanted the watch in time for the ceremony. Holthinrichs delivered it just two days before the wedding.

“I sold almost my entire collection of vintage watches to finance the prototypes,” he recalls. “As a student, I managed to raise around €80,000, which felt like an enormous amount of money at the time.” The first series of the Ornament 1 consisted of just seven watches. Featuring a 3D-printed stainless-steel case and powered by a Peseux 7001 movement with its characteristic small-seconds layout, it marked the official birth of the brand. In 2016, Holthinrichs organised the launch at Delft’s Faculty of Architecture while continuing to work professionally as an architect in order to finance his fledgling company. “For a long time, making a living from the brand simply wasn’t possible.”

A mattress in the workshop

The early years bore little resemblance to the polished narrative of a start-up success story. Holthinrichs rented a former workshop in Delft and quite literally installed a mattress inside so he could sleep there whenever necessary. Looking back, he readily acknowledges the naïveté of those beginnings. “I had underestimated virtually all my costs,” he says. “And there were plenty of people who were highly critical of 3D printing.”

Yet perceptions within the industry were slowly beginning to shift. Without necessarily realising it at the time, Holthinrichs was becoming one of the pioneers of high-end additive manufacturing in watchmaking. During the most recent edition of Dubai Watch Week, a product developer from a major watch brand approached him with an unexpected admission. Holthinrichs had been studied internally as a benchmark for premium 3D printing in watchmaking.

“We may have influenced some of the big names after all,” he says with a smile. Such dynamics are hardly unusual. Throughout industrial history, small independent companies have often served as laboratories for technologies that would later be adopted by far larger players.

Growth came slowly, but steadily. Following the Ornament 1 came the RAW Ornament, developed around the concept of “Horlogerie Brut”, where textures, colours and finishes emerge directly from manufacturing processes and the intrinsic characteristics of the materials themselves. By then, the company had already acquired the capability to produce dials in-house and was even beginning to manufacture certain movement components.

The first dedicated workshop opened in November 2017. A second location followed fifty metres away in 2020. Then, in November 2021, Holthinrichs unveiled the RAW Ornament Bronze, featuring a monobloc bronze case, a copper-oxide dial created using a proprietary process, copper hands and even a copper-plated movement finished according to the standards of haute horlogerie.

A major milestone was reached in November 2024 with the unveiling of the first working prototype of the Ornament Nouveau, which was subsequently sold at auction. For the first time, the brand introduced a watch powered by a movement conceived and developed in the Netherlands while fully embracing the codes of contemporary haute horlogerie. As headcount grew and production expanded, the existing premises soon became inadequate.

Meanwhile, another obsession continued to fuel Holthinrichs’ imagination: fortresses. “I’ve always dreamed of rebuilding an old castle,” he says. “When nature slowly reclaims a building, it creates an extraordinary beauty. It’s very similar to the patina that develops on an old watch.”

One day, while parking near a canal in Delft, he noticed a real-estate sign outside a former building belonging to the National Army Museum. The site was already familiar to him. Years earlier, as a student, he had participated in a project proposing its conversion into a design museum. A week later, he arranged a visit.

“When we walked inside, we immediately noticed the light,” he recalls. “It was everywhere. Perfect light for watchmakers. But at the time, it seemed completely absurd that we could ever move into a place of that scale.”

Fortune intervened. The building’s owner happened to be a classic-car enthusiast and immediately connected with Holthinrichs’ vision. The initial prospective tenant eventually withdrew from negotiations, opening an unexpected opportunity. In July 2025, the brand took possession of the 755-square-metre space - seven times larger than its previous workshop. The challenge now was to transform it into a place worthy of the ambitions it housed. Fortunately, architecture and watchmaking have always spoken the same language in Michiel Holthinrichs’ world.

Building a Dutch watchmaking ecosystem

The new premises are far more than a simple workshop. Holthinrichs envisions a hybrid structure combining manufacture, showroom, design laboratory and artistic residency space. The concept can be traced back to another dream that took shape in 2017 during a trip to Germany’s Harz Mountains. There, hidden deep within a forest, he stumbled upon an abandoned factory and immediately began imagining what it could become. “I saw an exhibition space on the ground floor, artists-in-residence above it, then workshops and manufacturing facilities, and finally a small guesthouse,” he recalls.

At Holthinrichs, watchmaking is conceived as a complete cultural environment rather than a purely industrial activity. The new Armoury embodies that philosophy, creating a setting where design, craftsmanship, engineering and artistic experimentation can coexist under one roof.

That vision now extends beyond the company itself. Unlike Switzerland, the Netherlands lacks a fully integrated watchmaking ecosystem. Independent watchmakers remain relatively isolated, often forced to source components and expertise abroad. Holthinrichs has become one of the most vocal advocates for the development of high-end watchmaking manufacturing within the country itself.

“My dream is to help create a local ecosystem,” he explains. “The raw watch components are already machined near Rotterdam by a partner specialising in highly complex milling operations. What we need now is a stronger network. Today, almost every young watchmaker wants to become independent. If we can create a platform that supports them locally - almost like an incubator - everybody benefits.”

His ambition is not merely entrepreneurial. It is cultural. Just as the Dutch Golden Age produced interconnected networks of merchants, artists, scientists and craftsmen, Holthinrichs believes contemporary Dutch watchmaking could flourish through collaboration rather than isolation.

Signature Lab: experimentation as a discipline

This year, the brand unveiled two new creations within its experimental Signature Lab collection. Both pay tribute to the company’s first watch, the Ornament 1, while pushing its concepts of optical layering, texture and patination to entirely new levels. Produced as limited editions of 100 pieces each, the watches serve as showcases for the aesthetic language that has gradually become synonymous with Holthinrichs.

The Signature Lab 1.S features what the company describes as “perhaps the most expressive dial topography we have ever created.” Deeply sculpted lines radiate outward from the subsidiary seconds display, creating a dynamic composition with subtle Art Deco overtones. Layers of azure-blue oxidation contrast with brown-green nuances, generating a constantly shifting interplay of colour and relief.

The Signature Lab 1.GMT explores a different visual narrative. Its multi-layered dial architecture incorporates the subtle projection of a globe emerging from beneath the surface. Viewed from the North Pole using an azimuthal projection, the Earth naturally echoes both the radial division of global time zones and the rotational logic underlying the display of the watch itself.

“During the manufacturing process, the globe is hand-brushed using a micro-brush in order to selectively remove excess patina,” explains Holthinrichs. “This creates a dark brown tone that contrasts with the surrounding surface. The most prominent layer, displaying the GMT indications, features a Breguet-inspired design, a brass-coloured finish and a brushed texture that stands out dramatically against the layers beneath.”

The Signature Lab collection is also distinguished by its titanium case architecture. The lugs have been designed as thinly as possible, deliberately challenging conventional engineering logic. Such geometries would be extremely difficult - if not impossible - to produce using traditional manufacturing methods, yet become feasible through metal additive manufacturing.

The cases are produced using selective laser sintering before undergoing precision machining and extensive hand-finishing. Production remains deliberately limited. Each printing platform accommodates just forty-five cases at a time, while a single printing cycle can require up to forty-eight hours.

Both models are powered by the Sellita SW300 calibre, enhanced by a heavily reworked rotor featuring hand-sculpted surfaces, thermal treatments and carefully controlled patination. The tungsten oscillating weight is likewise hand-scratched and heat-treated to reveal subtle shades of blue and violet. The Signature Lab 1.S is priced at €5,900, while the Signature Lab 1.GMT retails for €6,500.

Scaling up without losing the dream

Growth is now tangible. Holthinrichs employs sixteen people, a remarkable evolution for a company that only a few years ago consisted essentially of one architect sleeping on a mattress in his workshop!

The United States currently represents around 50% of the company’s sales. Two American retailers - Collective Horology and Exquisite Timepieces - now support the brand’s expansion in its most important market, although direct sales continue to represent the majority of business worldwide.

In 2025, Holthinrichs produced 276 watches. The objective for 2026 is ambitious: surpass 600 pieces. Headcount has doubled, production capacity is expanding and the company is beginning to structure itself around two distinct universes.

On one side is experimental haute horlogerie, embodied by creations such as the Ornament Nouveau, with prices starting at €60,000 and a strong emphasis on innovation, craftsmanship, and exclusivity. “The first commercially available series of the Ornament Nouveau will be unveiled in November this year and will comprise two versions, each limited to 10 pieces,” says Michiel Holthinrichs. “Over the next five years, we will produce a total of 120 Ornament Nouveau timepieces.”

On the other are more accessible collections positioned between approximately €3,750 and €10,000, which are expected eventually to evolve into a separate brand with its own identity and language.

For many entrepreneurs, such growth would represent the fulfilment of a long-term strategy. Yet listening to Michiel Holthinrichs, one senses a certain discomfort with some of the mechanisms that drive contemporary watchmaking.

The language that comes most naturally to him is not that of market share, distribution networks or financial targets. Instead, he speaks of creativity, coherence, beauty and time. The fascination with ruined castles, military architecture and forgotten buildings remains intact. The architect has not disappeared; he has simply found another medium.

And perhaps that explains why the former arsenal of Delft feels like such a natural home for Holthinrichs. Within walls built to store gunpowder more than four centuries ago, another kind of controlled explosion is taking place - one fuelled not by black powder, but by ideas.