Ochs und Junior: A Non-Watchmaker's Approach

ochs und junior – a non-watchmakers approach to watchmaking

Part 3

 

Development

ochs und junior's development process is certainly unique in the watch industry. It simply described as follows:

 

"If I need something new, I make it myself." (Ludwig Oechslin)

 

The prototypes are made in Ludwig's cellar on a 2 axis CNC machine in copper, based on his own CAD drawings. Then he wears the prototype and they concept gets refined over time. Customer inputs are taken into account – if Ludwig finds an interest or challenge in it. Otherwise they are politely ignored…

 

Development cycle of the annual calendar (anno cinquanta)

Below you see a few pictures of the annual calendar prototypes. You will notice that the date indication is different from the final version. On the earlier version, every fifth day had an additional bore hole in the dial. The final version of the anno cinquanta uses an oval hole for the 5, 15 etc and a long hole for the 10, 20 etc. Note the interesting dial on the prototypes – an artificially "aged" copper dial. (With patina). 

 

From early prototypes to the final anno cinquanta

 

prototype of the anno cinquanta with "aged" copper dial

 

 

Development cycle of the moon phase (selene tinta)

This watch that is actually born out of a "customer" requirement! Beat's wife wanted a watch that she could wear as a pendant. Of course, a ladies watch should feature a moon cycle. On the pictures below, you can see the first sketches in the notebook and the various prototypes which finally lead to the selene tinta.

 

First sketches of what was first conceived as a ladies pendant watch. Finally, the selene tinta resulted from this development.

 

 

 

 

Different execution of the moon phase in a prototype

 

Another prototype

 

 

Close to the final selene tinta….

 

And the final version for comparison.

 

Functional dial of the selene tinta (backside) The disc carries the moon phase.

 

New developments

Apparently, the annual calendar function of the anno cinquanta will be launched soon in a model under the tinta line – with more accessible prices. This is great news.

New projects shall be based on the Ulysse Nardin UN 118 calibre.

Finally, a new webpage with innovative and interactive functionality is under development.

 

The buckle was improved form the traditional version. (see pictures below)

 

Traditional buckle on the right hand side, and improved buckle and the left side.

 

The loose end can be conveniently moved underneath the strap. Clever!

 

 

Partners and suppliers

An important part of the Ochs und junior philosophy is transparency. So they communicate all their partners and suppliers.

Ø        Paul Gerber for the movement cal 41 of the anno cinquanta.

Ø        ETA for the other movements

Ø        Ulysse Nardin for the movements of future projects. Looking forward!

Ø        Pedro Cantieni, Hinwil, manufactures all cases, buckles, dials, hands and – for the tinta watches – the components incorporated in modules.(calendar, time zone, moon phase). Beat tells it best in his own words (from the blog), why their partnership with Peter Cantieni is so important: "Peter's workshop in Hinwil is immediately next door to Switzerland's Sauber Formula One team building. Most of Peter's work is for them. Each of their racing cars contains parts made by his workshop. In other words, Ludwig Oechslin's designs are made in a mechanical workshop – one that usually makes anything but watch parts.  Ludwig's ideas are radical in their elegant simplicity. Peter executes them 1:1, interpreting only where he needs to for production reasons. That's how we're able to build uncompromising watches, and because they're made in ultra small batches, we can respond instantly to new ideas and development" . Beat also stresses that it is an enormous advantage to have only one supplier for the case, dial and hands. This means tolerances can be reduced and there is no holding ring ("werkhaltering") necessary to keep the movement in place. Cases are not stamped as usual with case manufacturing, but milled out of a massive block of titanium. The same goes for the buckles.

Ø        Cador: a small but fine, family owned dial maker, paints the (functional) dials and allows for small production runs and individual customer orders.

Ø        Marion Mueller: the watchmaker in the ochs und junior "family". She assembles, regulates and services all watches from the tinta line.

Ø        Camille Fournet, Paris. Large choice of colours for the leather and the stitching combined with finest workmanship. The calfskin for the strap comes from Ecopel, Allgaeu, Germany.

Ø        Other suppliers: of course, the sapphire crystals come from a supplier, but I didn't note the name. Also the TI crowns come from an external supplier.

 

Sales and Communication

The partnership of Embassy, a leading watch retailer of Lucerne, allowed ochs und junior to showcase and sell their watches in the past. With the opening of their new shop and headquarters in Lucerne, ochs und junior watches are exclusively available there. There are no intermediates and being in personal contact with all customers is important to Beat Weinmann. A webshop is apparently under construction.

 

As covered in part 1, the packaging is essentially a cardboard with the instructions hand printed on it. However a nice leather pouch can be ordered, matching the colour  and the stitching oft the strap.

 

 

 

The leather pouch, hand made in Switzerland

 

 

Their communication heavily relies on their webpage and blog, which is very informative and up-to-date. The cartoons found on their webpage as well as the instruction booklet for the settimana junior come from Sjoerd van Rooijen, a Zurich based Dutchman.

 

Conclusion and outlook

 

"Is there a market for such a watch?", I was asking Beat, while pointing to the settimana junior, the 2000 Swiss Franc or so kids watch. This led us to an interesting discussion about the philosophy of the company founders and what motivates them. So Beat's response was as follows: "This is not the question. We are small and lean, and the whole world is our market, so of course the market is bigger than what we can produce"

 

Beat elaborated on how the company founders reflected on their goals. Some of the independent, mid-sized watch companies have a tough time, as they are not big enough to benefit from the innovation and marketing power of the large groups (Swatch, Richemont, LVMH), but not small enough to sell directly and make their watches on order. The conclusion is: be either big or small – don't get caught in the middle. Being big is out of question for ochs und junior, so they decided to stay small, keep the freedom to do what they believe is right – no compromises - and have fun. They currently produce around 100 watches a year and plan to go to around 300 in the future.

Owning an ochs und junior is pretty exclusive – and will remain so!

 

 

The  Helvetia with big date (from 1931) which I was wearing that day caught the interest of Ludwig Oechslin.

 

My sincere thanks to Beat and Ludwig for introducing us the world of ochs und junior.

 

Last but not least:  the espresso ias outstanding!

 

Stefan