WÖRLITZ 01 · Our first watch
Elegance
with purpose.
A mechanical watch for a life in motion.
Launching
Register your interestDesign visualisation
An introduction
Meet
WÖRLITZ 01.
A deep green dial. Sculpted silver rings. A small seconds display with a copper accent. The first expression of our idea of a daily watch.
Follow it from the design you see here to the first physical prototypes, and on to launch.
- Official launch
- Target retail price
- Under €5,000
01 A personal beginning
One life.
One watch.
A note from
Paul Fritz Mendel
My life rarely stays in one setting.
I am raising children, working in a suit, working outdoors, rowing and sailing. I move between these worlds, often within the same day.
I kept looking for a watch that felt right through all of it. Beautiful enough to wear with a suit. Capable enough that I would not want to change it when the day turned active.
I could not find the balance I wanted. So I decided to build it.
FRITZ MENDEL begins with that personal ambition: my idea of the perfect daily watch.
Paul Fritz MendelFounder
Why I am building it
02 The daily watch
The day changes.
The watch stays.
That is the brief. A mechanical watch with the presence and proportions to belong under a shirt cuff, and the comfort and resilience an active life asks of it.
From the feel of the case to the way the bracelet sits, every decision has to serve the person wearing it.
These are our development goals.
They will have to be earned through testing.
03 Why Wörlitz
Before the watch,
there was a place.
Wörlitz Dessau, Germany
As a child, I played in the park at Wörlitz.
Today, that place gives our first watch its name. It also gives it a guiding idea: beauty should enrich everyday life.
At Wörlitz, Prince Franz brought the open thinking of the Enlightenment into a landscape of classical architecture, gardens and water. Ideas from his European travels helped bring beauty and practical purpose together.
I grew up in Dessau, a place with its own tradition of questioning how things should be designed. WÖRLITZ 01 brings those influences into the present: considered proportions, a distinct character and a purpose in daily life.
04 A closer look
Character
in the details.
The Dessauer rings give the dial its architecture. Each element has a place.
- The rings
- A dark minute ring surrounds a sculpted silver hour ring. Their surfaces catch the light differently, creating depth around the dial.
- The centre
- Deep green and a quiet texture bring warmth to the geometry.
- The seconds
- A small seconds display and a copper accent give the passing moment its own space.
05 The ambition
An exceptional
daily companion.
My aim is to build the best new mechanical daily watch I can offer for under €5,000. The quality has to be there in the design, the materials, the finish and the experience on the wrist.
Target retail price
First model in development
The design is taking shape. Engineering, physical prototypes and wear testing are the next steps. Final specifications and availability will follow that work.
The road to launch
A watch in the making.
A date to look forward to.
1 March 2027
Every watch begins with an idea. Here is how we intend to bring ours to the wrist. Follow the decisions, the discoveries and the details as WÖRLITZ 01 takes shape.
- 01Now
The design
takes shape.The daily-watch brief, the Dessauer rings and the character of WÖRLITZ 01. This is where we are today.
- 02Next
From design
to prototype.Engineering, materials and the first physical prototypes. Turning a visual idea into something we can hold and refine.
- 03Before launch
Life on
the wrist.Fit, comfort and performance will need to earn their place in everyday life. Testing will guide the final details.
- 04
The first
chapter begins.The official launch of our first watch. Final specifications, ordering details and delivery timing will follow as development progresses.
Be part of the story while it is still being written.
Register your interestBe part of the beginning
Two ways
to join the story.
An invitation to the first chapter
Be there
at the beginning.
Launching
Follow the design, the first prototypes and the decisions that bring WÖRLITZ 01 to life. If this is the watch you have been looking for, write to me and register your interest in the launch.
Register your interest by emailOpens your email app. Registering your interest is free and does not reserve a watch.
What does your daily watch have to do? I would also love to hear from watchmakers, designers and partners who want to help build it.
mendel@fritzmendel.dePaul Fritz MendelFounder
Product and lifestyle images are design visualisations of a watch in development. They illustrate our intent; details may evolve.