A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid: The WatchTime Q&A


WT: Lange has always been known for its in-house movements and great complications, and now you’ve entered the “new materials” arena with honey gold. Is the brand planning to introduce more new case materials?
WS: For the time being, honey gold will remain our only such specialty, used only for limited editions, for a simple reason. Platinum is very hard to work with and honey gold is even tougher. The machining and the tool replacement for the casing are massive. It’s not our way to go in on fancy new materials; we originally developed it because we only work with precious metals and we wanted to have a precious metal that is more resistant to scratches and dents. We’ve produced a few hundred pieces with honey gold already. For us, it isn’t an experiment; it’s a proper way of crowning our top models, and that is what it will be in the future.

WT: How many pieces did Lange make last year and would you say the company is in a growth mode or holding steady?
WS: We have around 550 employees, around 450 in Glashütte. The majority — about 380 to 400 — work in manufacturing, with the rest in administration, marketing, finance, and operations. The good news is we are actually planning to increase our manufacturing. We have a plot right across the street from our current building that we are evaluating to extend the building, because we simply need more space for a larger facility. I cannot answer the question about how many pieces we produced and how many pieces we will produce this year, because Richemont is a public company in Switzerland and certain reportings have to go through their investment relations department, as much as I would like to tell you.  It’s a much lower number than most people would consider.

WT: You are one of the few brands that makes its own hairsprings. Does Lange supply other brands within the Richemont Group with assortments?
WS: Again, that is a question that only Richemont can answer. I can share with you why that is important for us. Many people cannot imagine how important the hairspring is in the process of developing a new watch, specifically if you are producing only a small number of watches. For example, with the Lange 1 tourbillon perpetual calendar, the balance and the hairspring were instrumental for the development of the watch. If I went to Swatch Group, which is by far the biggest supplier of hairsprings within the industry, and asked them to produce 1,000 dedicated hairsprings for us, they would tell me to come back in 10 years, if we’re lucky. So it’s a big advantage to make our own, since it helps us to develop the watches we want, when we want them, and not be reliant on spare parts that we must purchase within the industry.

WT: Do you make all the hairsprings for your own brand?
WS: Not all. As I mentioned, the classic Lange 1 is unchanged since 1994, including its hairspring. We still use a few of the old calibers, and they still run with the original hairsprings, which were not produced in-house. I think we started producing hairsprings around 2003. It’s a five-years process before you have the first one, and you actually go through the process all over again whenever you develop something new.

ALS_Hairspring_560
Lange is one of the very few watch brands that makes its own hairsprings.

NB: From a global perspective, as you look at various markets, particularly China, in trouble, what do you see for the watch industry in the coming year?
WS: At the moment, I don’t feel that the demand for our watches is lower than before. But I also hear the signals. It’s very unpredictable, but we wouldn’t be investing in manufacturing if we didn’t believe in future growth. With all the bad news that’s hit our shelves over the last 12 months, you’re wondering if the crisis isn’t already here. Maybe if you use the word “crisis” often enough, people get so used to it and they don’t change their purchasing behavior. Of course, we are rather an expensive brand. I think our core clientele is probably more resilient to the crisis than the average consumer across the world.

WT: If you were to speak to a new watch collector, one who only knows Swiss watches, and explain to him what is different about Glashütte and Saxon watchmaking, what would you tell him?
WS: As I said earlier, I don’t believe that there is a German or Swiss way of producing a watch; there is only fine watchmaking. The difference is really in the details. What I can guarantee for our brand is and it doesn’t matter whether you buy a Saxonia for almost 14,200 euros or a Tourbograph for almost 100,000 euros; every little part within the watch got the same attention to detail as those parts that you see. When you buy a watch, you buy a promise. The promise is love of detail and craftsmanship. Of course, we are the only one that is using German silver. And I can say that all of our watches are water-resistant to 3 ATM. If you look around the world of fine watchmaking, Switzerland and elsewhere, you’ll find that’s not common. Some say they don’t need [that level of water-resistance] for the top complications, because they will be in a safe. But we go through the effort of making watches for people to wear. So, again, there is no “Glashütte way.” My competitors aren’t in Glashütte, they’re in Geneva, Switzerland.

WT: So it’s more about the level of watchmaking than about the geography.
WS: That’s what I believe, yes. Ultimately, our goal is to start from scratch with every watch, every movement, and at the end of the process, we could take the logo off of the finished watch and you will still identify it as an A. Lange & Sohne… even if it’s just a two-handed watch. It’s a difficult challenge, but one I feel is very important to meet.

A Lange-Sohne CEO Wilhelm Schmid
“When you buy a watch, you buy a promise. The promise is love of detail and craftsmanship.”

 

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No Responses to “A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid: The WatchTime Q&A”

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  1. edward chan

    Can anyone provide with : A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid’s mailing and email address ? Thanks

    Reply
  2. I love the brand and the LANGE I when the watch was introduced in 1994. And when I had the opportunity to carry my best clients from Berlin to Glashütte/Sachsen to show them the factory
    and to meet the brain behind LANGE & SÖHNE Günther Blümlein! TIME changed a lot –
    and RICHEMONT with all its POWER an MONEY took over, but the LANGE I will never change!
    I wish Mr. Schmid all the best and a sensitive hand for the future.

    Reply
  3. Very very good interview, one typo, I dont believe they are all water resistant to 300 ATM. Maybe 3 ATM? Love the brand

    Reply
    • Mark Bernardo

      Good catch. 3 ATM is the proper measurement. We’ll make the change.

      Reply
  4. R.Sulochanan Nair

    Thanks for the question & answers ! It is interesting & fruitful.

    Reply
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