Christiaan van der Klaauw was born in the Netherlands in 1944 and trained as a clock restorer in Leiden, the university town with the longest-operating university observatory in continental Europe (founded 1633). In 1974 he founded his atelier, initially producing astronomical table clocks for museums, embassies, and private collectors. For nearly 25 years CvdK made only tall-case and table astronomical clocks with planetariums, tellurians, and celestial charts; the firm built a niche international reputation but remained a one-man operation.
In 1999, Daniel Roth approached CvdK for a collaboration and convinced him to miniaturise his astronomical work into wristwatches. The first CvdK wristwatch was the Planetarium (2004), a wristwatch with the accurate positions of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn rendered as rotating planets on the dial. Astronomical accuracy: the planet positions reflect the actual sidereal periods. The Planetarium established CvdK's wristwatch language and placed the brand into the modern independent-watchmaking conversation.
The Real Moon Joure, launched in 2010, was the brand's technical breakthrough. It was the first spherical moonphase wristwatch: a three-dimensional hemisphere rotating in a case aperture at 6 o'clock, showing the actual lit and dark hemispheres of the Moon as seen from Earth rather than the conventional flat-disc representation. Drift accuracy of the mechanism: approximately 1 day per 11,000 years, an order of magnitude more accurate than high-precision conventional moonphases. The Real Moon Joure was CvdK's most successful commercial reference and triggered multiple subsequent three-dimensional astronomical wristwatches across the industry.
The brand was acquired in 2009 by Pelin Akyuz and relocated operations to Joure, Friesland (hence the 'Joure' in the Real Moon Joure name). Christiaan van der Klaauw himself remains actively involved in the design process. Current collection: Real Moon Joure, Planetarium (Eccentric, Dunes Tomorrow, Dunes Today), CKCM01 (chronograph + moonphase), and the Satelite 1945 commemorating the liberation of the Netherlands. Retail prices run from approximately CHF 30,000 (Real Moon Joure entry) to CHF 80,000+ (Planetarium Eccentric) and over CHF 250,000 for the most complicated unique pieces. Annual production approximately 50 watches.
