ochs und junior – Can "Rigorously Simple" be too simple?

May 01, 2017,12:54 PM
 


With wristwatches I enjoy a very broad range of designs, from the traditional look of Urban Jürgensen to the adventurous shapes of Urwerk. As long as the design is coherent, almost anything could tempt me. I particularly like the lean and distinct (Bauhaus inspired) design of Nomos.

But for some reason the equally lean (but in a different way) design of ochs und junior did not “click” with me, because looking at photos in the press, I always associated their design somehow with children watches (and the brand actually started off with a children’s watch, the model “settimana junior”). It needed the insistence of a fellow watch collector to commit me to visit the “Ox Loft” in Lucerne.


(settimana junior)



Two Time Zones

A dual time watch is no worldtimer, but it is a close side line when you collect world time watches, and therefore a good reason to see the offering of ochs und junior in Lucerne. Ludwig Oechslin’s dual timer uses an adjustable time zone disk, replacing the 31 tooth date disk that comes on the ETA 2824-2 base movement with a 48 tooth 12 hour time zone disk. You adjust manually (the crown in the first position) the second time zone disk to the time of another place to read two different times from a single set of hands.

This arrangement goes well with the credo of ochs und junior respectively Ludwig Oechslin: It needs more brain power to simplify a mechanism to perform a specific purpose (make it “rigorously simple”) than to just add parts for the sake of creating something more complicated and more desirable in most consumers’ eyes (as seems to be the general attitude in the watch business). While this thinking is fascinating, I felt that with this dual timer Ludwig Oechslin had it too easy.


The French manufacturer Yema offered this idea already in 1969 with the model “Worldgraf”. They had modified a France Ebauche 4611 automatic calibre for a 24-hour-display, thus also addressing the AM- or PM-question. The manually moveable disk (second crown) is used to set the watch for a second time zone. Though, the reference cities are deceptive because they are printed on the same disk as the numerals for the second time display, making them useless as help to set the second zone time (but, of course, you could use them to “calculate” a time difference in between cities based on the main time display).


Beat Weinmann, business partner of Ludwig Oechslin and CEO of ochs und junior, protested and felt the comparison not to be appropriate. With the “additive elements” (an additional disk and a crown) the Yema represented a different philosophy. The clever part of the ochs und junior is – according to him – to get another function without adding parts. Replacing the date disk with the 12 hour-disk and decommissioning the date-change at midnight provided all what is needed for the second zone time, including the quick setting taken over from the date mechanism. Being fixed on a “worldtimer”, a solution to know if it is AM or PM and by how many hours a certain time zone is offset from CET was more important to me. So I would have appreciated less an ingenious technical solution, but rather a simple reading of other zone times. Maybe I also still judge the visuals of a watch too much and do not appreciate enough the mechanical side. Beat Weinmann mentioned in an interview with a local TV station, ochs und junior watches have not only to be found (they can only be seen for real in Lucerne), but that only enthusiasts with a highly independent way of thinking will consider them, likely implying you must also be able and willing to appreciate the hidden intelligence in the watches. This “hidden intelligence” is obvious with the annual and particularly the new perpetual calendar watches of ochs und junior. In the time zone watch I could at this moment not see the extent of the genius to make it enough attractive to me. When heading for the door, as an expression of disappointment I mentioned to Beat Weinmann, why is the dual timer not at least offered in combination with the moon phase display?

The moon phase watch also offered by ochs und junior gives not only a pretext for some additional decoration of the dial (I am still not mature enough to live without some of it), but incorporates also a viable result of Ludwig Oechslin’s thinking: a highly precise moon phase display based on just three movement parts.


3 parts moon phase

(An epicyclic gear train driven by a central finger bonded directly to the hour pipe turns the lunar disk beneath the dial counter-clockwise. The central finger engages with a wheel bearing 12 teeth, whose pinion with 14 teeth meshes with a wheel bearing 18 teeth, whose pinion with 14 teeth meshes with the fixed recessed ring gear with its 109 teeth machined into the underside of the dial. The ochs und junior moon phase calculates the lunation as 29.5306122449 days.)


Communication at the top level without (dubious) interfaces

With ochs und junior you deal exclusively with the CEO. They stress that this is part of the company’s credo because their customers expect a communication at the highest level. That it is not idle PR talk, I could experience without expecting it.

Due to my remark Beat Weinmann immediately picked up a dial of the moon phase watch to hold it on top of a dual timer. His answer: The combination could work, would I then be interested? Yes! And in a couple of minutes I got a quote they stuck to even when some problems arose in the execution of the idea.

Have you ever heard anything like this in the watch industry? Not likely! If you can propose your own engraving or chose in between some case or strap materials, the limit is about reached. The flexibility of ochs und junior – particularly at this price level – took me completely by surprise.


Specifying my watch

In the car industry it is common practice since many years that the customer can specify an incredible amount of details of a new car, even with cars in the lower price ranges. Considering the volumes to be handled by the car industry and the fact that most parts are supplied to the manufacturing chain by third parties, you wonder how stubborn the watch industry is with its inflexibility. When you claim to produce more or less all parts in house and you have not to certify almost every part of your product as a legal requirement like the car industry, where is the problem to offer more individuality?

Even though I am not a frustrated designer, I expect to have choices when buying goods requiring a certain investment. But when the opportunity is offered, making the necessary decisions requires also a commitment on the side of the buyer. Getting really involved at the creation stage with something you want in any case just as an indulgence helps me so much to bond with the “thing”.


(Ornatus-Mundi has described the specifying process in a previous article: www.watchprosite.com )

Since ochs und junior sells two thirds of the watches by internet, they have developed an elaborate configurator which allows you to specify the watch to your liking. Even if you are in the “Ox Loft” in Lucerne you start off with this tool. But with the different case materials (titanium and silver, e.g., but also precious metals) and sizes as well as dials and hands in different materials, painted or patinated/”aged” etc., I believe you miss opportunities (and not only the famous Italian espresso coffee served to customers) not visiting the sales office, manufacturing atelier and administration office (all in one room!) in Lucerne personally. Discussing the details with Beat Weinmann, I realised that a lot more choices are available, like hammered inserts on the dial for sun and moon in precious materials. The full Pantone colour range is also available when you really do not find your favoured tint on the customizer (offering up to 25 colours for dial, markers, hands, time zone disk and straps respectively). A new version of the customizer they are working on should offer more choices as well as a more photorealistic visualization.


(Again, Ornatus-Mundi has already described the use of the hidden qualities of the material: www.watchprosite.com )

While I admire in architecture a “colouring” by the natural tones of the materials used in functional ways, with my ochs und junior I opted for painted surfaces (dial, hands, sun and moon). My mind was not yet ready to accept a patination (either naturally of the untreated material or by the “accelerated” artificial patination offered) on a watch, because for me one of the attractions of wrist watches (in contrast to classic cars, e.g.) is the feasibility to strive for perfection.

Starting with a 42mm case and the moon disk in titanium, I quickly decided to add colours I like and which complement in my opinion the grey of titanium: dark blue for the dial and orange for numerals, indices and hands. The orange as well as the yellows for sun and full moon were Superluminova colours. I also hoped for a slightly fuller paint body with the Superluminova to work on the dimensionality of the dial.

Though, the exact colour choice on the screen was difficult for me (at the time the configurator was not yet so sophisticated and I misjudged the “ox blue” chosen; the dial was graciously repainted when I was not quite happy with my choice when seeing the finished watch, because there was not enough of a blue hue on the dial and moon and sun not distinctively different yellows with the colours I had originally chosen). I believe it is nigh on impossible to judge how the natural colour of the materials or patination of the materials available for choice work together without seeing samples for real. But maybe not everybody is so nit-picking like me!

Combining Dual Timer with the Moon Phase required also new technical drawings. Peter Cantieni (who is in his “other life” milling parts for the Sauber Formula 1 race cars) had to cut a new dial. Beat Weinmann was not happy with the first attempt, because the numerals of the second time display did not line up perfectly in the “windows” on the dial. Another dial was milled before I even learned of this mishap.

Since I do not want to have to remember time differences in between longitudinal zones around the world (to set the second zone time), I asked for an engraving of the zones on the back of the watch for help. To be more in the style of the watch with its parts being milled, I asked also for a milled engraving. Beat Weinmann made enquiries with his supplier but was concerned that the lines have for space reasons to be too fine for a milling machine, and programming the machine for just one engraving would also be likely too expensive in relation to the price of the watch. So it had to be a laser engraving.


In my naïve attempt to bring more “DNA” of Ludwig Oechslin into the watch, I asked to mark the time zones of the engraving with reference cities that had a special meaning for him. Beat Weinmann later confessed he could not get suggestions and instead opted for places with a meaning (when available) for ochs und junior, like places where they had already customers. With hindsight I have to agree I would also not have dared to bother Professor Oechslin with such trivialities, which could also be too personal anyway…


(1st Version Selene-Due Ore)

When the dial/moon phase disks were repainted, I also used the opportunity to have the Aquarius constellation added to the moon disk, another customization possibility offered after I had placed my original order.

This option was not promoted on the watch configurator so far. I was also aware that such embellishments are hardly covered by the philosophy of Ludwig Oechslin. But since the star pattern is not just painted on the moon disk but also milled, I felt not (too) guilty of messing up a concept with my inability to enjoy the absolute minimum of what is required to offer useful information with the watch.


Final Version

The sturgeon leather straps are a speciality of ochs und junior. Therefore I also went for a set. When looking at the finished watch, I thought a black rubber strap is more in style with the painted dial, and the leather strap went into my “museum”. Had I opted for the patinated surface treatments, I am sure the sturgeon leather would match perfectly.


(When Ludwig Oechslin constructs the parts, this is all it takes to add to a reliable ETA base movement to get a second zone time and a moon phase function that will take 3,478.27 years before its calculation will be off by one day.)



(Sandra Flueck assembling the “Selene-Due Ore” watch)

Even with all the required one-off work for my watch (with third parties involved), I had it in my hands after about 12 months. Beat Weinmann always kept me up-to date with emails and telephone calls, giving me all the details about who is now doing what. Such good communication was a new experience for me, because I am more used to always have to chase craftsmen employed to get information about the state of work commissioned.


In metal the ochs und junior looks much more mature and “valuable” than on photos. Due to a lack of technical knowledge I had to read up about the thoughts that also went into the construction of the watch case (no customary 3-part case with a sandwich construction, but a 2-part case requiring less seals and also no movement ring) or the special strap buckle (with a different size according to case size chosen). On the other hand, my eyes picked up quickly the beauty of the delicately milled parts of the watch, with tiny and even traces of the milling process giving a perfect natural decoration. Again, not a separate process is employed to finish watch parts, but an appropriate manufacturing process is chosen to reach the final goal in one shot. This is a further hint how much thought went into the watches for a completely coherent execution of all details. That this work (other than the painting of dials by Cador) was not available from the usual suppliers to the watch industry, might also say something about the trodden paths the main watch industry is still using. ochs und junior had to find and instruct highly competent suppliers to other industries to get what they want.


For me it was also an excellent experience that you should not judge a specially crafted watch in a superficial way and just based on photos seen on the web or in print. The ideas behind a deceptively minimalist watch like the ochs und junior become only alive when you wear the watch, admire it in natural light and take the time to really deal with its details. For me the “Selene – Due Ore” (as it was named on internal papers at ochs und junior) became the perfect watch to wear in the leisure time. It looks casual and fun, only a small circle of enthusiasts will ever recognise it, and you have something interesting with you to inspect for details when you might get bored participating in an activity that takes not all of your attention. Furthermore, you know to have a bit of the genius of Ludwig Oechslin with you, though, this thought can also be a bit of a burden, because looking up Ludwig Oechslin’s CV on the ochs und junior website, you feel decidedly inferior and, in addition, wasting your life’s time when you see what he has done and is doing with his time.


(In titanium the watch feels light – in a quality way – and sits perfectly on the wrist.)


What next?

Collecting world time watches, my dream would obviously be to have some ingenious watch with this small complication conceived by Ludwig Oechslin. But ochs und junior does not work with modules, only integrated movements. It was only possible due to the simple construction of the second time zone display that the moon phase complication could be added. With the more complicated calendar watches offered, a woldtime complication cannot just be added (also due to a lack of space in the cases) without creating a completely new mechanical solution.

However, while filling up the construction offices of Ulysse Nardin with ideas for watches and with patents, Ludwig Oechslin moved towards worldtimers before.



Introduced at the Baselworld of 1992, the "Tellurium Johannes Kepler" is a revolutionary timepiece that shows the earth rotating in its true geographical shape as seen from above the North Pole. Continents, oceans and worldtime are instantly recognised. A novel flexible spring bends as time passes from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn to reveal the part of the earth lit by the sun and to indicate the time and place the sun rises and sets. The moon rotates around the earth counter-clockwise with the lit side turned towards the sun at all times. It indicates full moon when it is opposite the sun and new moon when it is positioned between sun and earth. A dragon hand shows the solar and lunar eclipses. The "Tellurium" is a perpetual calendar indicating the ruling sign of the zodiac, the month and day, but also a worldtimer, albeit not an easy one to read.




In 1996 Ulysse Nardin introduced the world’s most functional perpetual calendar, another creation of Ludwig Oechslin. Named the “Perpetual Ludwig”, the watch marked a major milestone in watchmaking history. It allowed the forward and backward adjustment of all calendar displays over a single crown, eliminating the need to return the watch to the manufacturer in case of setting mistakes. Unlike the standard lever system, the timepiece revealed the very first perpetual calendar mechanism driven by wheels and gears. The perpetual calendar was combined with a second time zone display, unfortunately (for my taste) without reference cities to help setting a zone time.

Ludwig Oechslin’s real interest is in astronomy and calendar functions. With ochs und junior being his laboratory outlet, all what is offered must first of all arouse his interest to make it worthwhile to toil away with calculations and prototype manufacturing in his own atelier at home. And they inform openly about this fact on their website: “Unique point 1: Ludwig Oechslin creates ochs and junior watches for his own pleasure. They are not designed to meet the needs of the market.”

Worldtime watches offer (according to Ludwig Oechslin) interesting and distinctively different display arrangements, but not complicated mechanics in the background. And since he is not keen to re-invent the exterior design of watches, but wants to develop new and intelligent mechanical systems, it seems unlikely I can ever get a conventional worldtimer from his laboratory. At least having to accept this, makes what I have already got with the special dual timer even more valuable to me, without the nagging doubt that next year something more likeable is offered, as you often have it when buying a mainstream watch.



And it is not only the final product that is likeable, but particularly also the process to come here. Being able to specify your watch, the very enjoyable communications and the anticipation to see your watch after a couple of months (or weeks, if you choose from the current model range), bonds you really with the product. The experience cannot be compared with getting something out of a cupboard at a retailer’s shop, with your choice being limited (at best) to either a cup of coffee or a glass of prosecco offered.


On the other hand, should you feel that your taste has changed after some time or you have got new ideas about how your ideal watch should look, you can always go back to ochs und junior to have it changed or updated. And with such plights you will also never have to deal with jobsworths trying to turn you away!


Björn

(Photos: ochs und junior, Ulysse Nardin and Jürg Meier)


PS:
Worldtimer with DNA of Ludwig Oechslin is on its way, though, labelled Ulysse Nardin…





This message has been edited by Ares501 aka Mr Green on 2017-05-01 12:59:25 This message has been edited by Ares501 aka Mr Green on 2017-05-03 06:01:20


More posts: NomosOchs and JuniorUrwerkVoutilainenZodiac

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Comments: view entire thread

 

Another truly excellent post dear Bjoern

 
 By: Ares501 - Mr Green : May 1st, 2017-13:02
Post to come back to several times and that YEMA Worldgraf surely looks cool Honestly didn't know about it Cheers and keep good posts coming Cordially D

Nice post.

 
 By: VMM : May 1st, 2017-14:37
It's funny how just two hours ago I've spent (again) more than half an hour delighting myself on the Ochs un Junior website, and now you post this. I can't get the Perpetual out of my head. I wish not far from today I can make it to Luzern to see how it l... 

Terrific write-up.

 
 By: vitalsigns : May 1st, 2017-17:26
Thank you for the detailed post. I have long admired the O&J watches, and have contemplated acquiring one. I like their designs (though I'm still warming to the lugs), their simplicity, the unique character of the watches, and the relatively good value. C... 

Congrats Bjorn!

 
 By: jporos : May 1st, 2017-19:14
Truly one of a kind, your co-creation with Ochs and Junior looks great on your wrist. Thank you for taking us on your journey of collaboration.

Welcome to the O&J club!!!

 
 By: manilx : May 2nd, 2017-01:37
I now have my 3rd one in the making (for a year now). And all my previous one also were unique and special and had a first never done before component. They are truly unique and once you get to appreciate that way you're hooked.

These pieces are so

 
 By: gcTIME : May 3rd, 2017-01:52
Cool and avant-garde....

Dear Bjorn...

 
 By: Brandon Skinner : June 19th, 2018-20:34
What a terrific post! My apologies for only having now read this >1 year from the original post date. Congrats on your very unique watch and I hope you continue to contribute more on Purists. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Fantastic summary Björn.

 
 By: Jay (Eire) : June 23rd, 2018-15:01
I was (am) familiar with ochs and junior and have always said if I happen to be close by I would visit and perhaps take that advantage of being there in person to complete an order. It never seemed to be that one could really get a true sense for their cu...