Passionate about astronomy, Christiaan van der Klaauw embodied his passion in his incredible astronomical clocks and wristwatches.

The story of the Christiaan van der Klaauw watch brand began in the lovely Frisian village of Joure in the Netherlands, where young Christian van de Klaauw began designing and manufacturing his astronomical movements in the early 1970s. 

Christiaan was a student at one of the oldest observatories in the world, founded in 1633. It also hosted the world-famous Dutch astronomer Oort, who discovered the asteroid belt named after him. Over the years, Christiaan became even more interested in astronomy, and this passion was soon reflected in the watches he created. 

Christiaan started his own company in 1974 and focused on producing incredible astronomical clocks. Christiaan Huygens, the famous astronomer from Leiden and the creator of the world's first pendulum clock, inspired Van der Klaauw to design his first astronomical table clock. The first copies made by Van der Klaauw were technically very complex and boasted some ingenious astronomical complications. Today, this unique timepiece is a collector's item.

Christiaan Huygens, the famous astronomer from Leiden and the creator of the world's first pendulum clock, inspired Van der Klaauw to design his first astronomical table clock.

In 1990, Christiaan van der Klaauw released a true masterpiece - the Pendule Variable clock, that combined a rotating sun and moon with an astrolabe. The creation of this unique timepiece was the main reason why he was invited to become an honorary member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI). Until this day, he remains the only Dutch watchmaker who joined the AHCI.

In 1992, Van der Klaauw won the prestigious gold medal for his Pendule Variable table clock at the Baselworld watch fair and took his rightful place among today's watchmaking elite. 

In 1994 Christiaan designed his first wristwatch called "Satellite du Monde", showing the position of the sun and moon relative to points on the earth, combined with a world time indication. Van der Klaauw made this extremely sophisticated complication small enough that he placed it into a wristwatch. 

In 1999, the master watchmaker presented his most acclaimed model, the Planetarium wristwatch, equipped with the world's smallest mechanical planetarium. In addition to the time, date, and month, the watch shows the relative positions of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn around the Sun. 

In 2009, Christiaan van der Klaauw sold the company to a Dutch designer and a friend Daniël Reintjes, who decided to focus exclusively on astronomical watches.

As a result, the Christiaan van der Klaauw brand released a few watches featuring the most beautiful astronomical complications – such as the Real Moon Joure, equipped with the most accurate 3D moon phase in the world, and two Planetarium masterpieces developed exclusively for the high jewelry brand Van Cleef & Arpels.