Independents

Important announcement Beat Weinmann, ochs und junior’s longtime CEO, has decided to leave the company. The Board of Directors would like to thank him for his strong contribution over the years and wish him much success in his new endeavors. Along with Ku... 

Best of luck for him and the rest of the team leaving the company. Vte

Beat has been an important part in founding this very interesting independent brand. Also, those of you who have had the pleasure to meet him, knows what a very talented and sympathetic person Beat is!Apparently Beat, as well as 4 other people on the team... 

It shows it was not peaceful.... Left in the dust are the customers, at least for the time being. Hope UN will take the reigns fast.

I can understand your concern. Lets see, when the dust settles. There is so much quality in their product.

who had 0 interaction with customers and their special watches. And is not the type to do this in the future. Yes, the inventions came from there but the debugging of the customer's watches was not him. Even if they put in a new CEO/customer liason, a cou... 

When the whole team taking care of the brand leaves, mmm, that's not good at all. I was in the middle of a transaction to acquire one of my fav watches ever, I guess my chances are gone till new notice. Vte

When it comes to these small brands, I would like to know more when things seem to implode like this. It's none of my business, but it would give me a better sense of the world and workings of independents.

We are dealing with such fragile business setups in most cases. I don’t think (hope) this is the end of Ochs & J. On a more general note. We have discussed it before in other posts. But. What happens when the founder retires, dies, go bankrupt ect.?? What... 

I remember has prepared technical manuals for his watches for exactly the idea of making sure they can be serviced in the future.

We already know Chanel own 20% and one day, probably most/all. And we know Chanel own other artisan workshops ( of all trades) and they are well known for taking very good care of these. FPJ has a professional setup, like a real brand/Maison. It is the sm... 

For independents, I am looking more seriously at those who use a classic or vintage movement type and then highly finish and give bespoke dial options. Watches from Atelier de Chronometrie, the American one worked on by Joshua Shapiro, or one of the other... 

I also THINK, Kari´s setup is beginning to resemble a "mini-Maison".

Hearing what others are saying in this thread, I can only hope that customers aren’t left holding the bag if this is the end of O&J. They were easily one of my favorite manufacturers, creating unique watches with a philosophy of design I admired for i...  

"Ulysse Nardin became a partner in ochs und junior in spring 2012, and has the exclusive right to patent and use wristwatch concepts created by ochs und junior." Lets hope UN also honor this partnership and bring the brand in to the future in a good way.

NT

To loose Beat and his team is significant. I visited Beat in Lucern several years ago prior to Basel, and found the whole experience brilliant. I’ve known Marc Bernhardt a long time, he’s a good guy, but I don’t see him being a “Beat Weinmann” character. ... 

everything! Best Christian

Just his vision and conceptualization would be a massive challenge to replace.

Mr. Weinmann will be at Chronoswiss in the very near future. I can't imagine Ochs und Junior without him, frankly.

But why did 4 more people leave. There must be something wrong!? I agree Ochs without Beat🤔

he was forced out and the team left in support of him. The Chronoswiss job, I assume, came after he was forced to leave. He certainly would not leave OuJ to go work at Chronoswiss. But then this is all secondhand information that I was told and I cannot v... 

It is awful for the customers.

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I thought the company was doing well, strong corporate identity, well respected.