http://www.dn.no/d2/2015/04/09/2128/Design/urtiden
page is in german -
English translation -
About 40 minutes southwest of Dresden, in a narrow valley at the foot of Ore Mountains, almost on the Czech border, is the small town of Glashütte. It may seem strange, indeed unlikely, that this secluded place in the old DDR is such an important name for many of the world's richest and most discerning people. The answer is to be found on their western wrists.
The bells that is made here on the Saxon countryside, namely among the highest in the world. If there is stamp Swiss Made who has been featured on really good watch, it is now so that the inscription Glashütte glows at least as strong. And the miracle is that this has happened in a remarkably short time.
There were not many who believed the old clock grandeur Glashütte, who had their hands tied socialist outlook on benefit, again, should rise on clockwork the sky so the city has done. A phoenix, nothing less, the new high precision wings. Almost immediately after German reunification, things began to happen. And 25 years after the fall of the Glashütte again the only name they really fear, down in Geneva.
Spearheading it all stood marked by some called "the best clock you've never heard of." Others go further and say that this is "the ultimate clock of them all", which is startling in a world where it has long been an established truth that the Swiss fortress on top is impregnable, and that no one has been able to challenge the 'holy trinity "Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin.
A. Lange & Söhne
Built by A. Lange & Söhne is warm, quiet and clean. Heavy, white buildings with deep windows that illuminate more sharply than hot in the narrow, høstgrå valley. Good working is important when the task is to move mechanics limits. Buildings weight might be understood as a kind of condition of the nervous machinery which is haute horlogerie.
Full milling. Base plates in brass - timepiece foundations - are shaped and milled by computerized machines. Here at Glashütte Original. Full milling. Base plates in brass - timepiece foundations - are shaped and milled by computerized machines. Here at Glashütte Original. .
For watchmakers part is the concentration, patience and drawn toward perfection that are the conditions for creating the mechanical lifeforms like a watch at this level is known; with its ticking hearts and ultra precise energy exchange; their thrilling complications and flying tourbillon.
Pr responsible Katrin Meusinger welcomes in an ivory white, luxurious vestibule. But it becomes quite evident that although the doors opened with courtesy, it should not be about transparency.
- Industrial Espionage is a very real concern, says Meusinger.
- Creating watches at this level is not just about traditions and uncompromising quality, it's most about innovation. There are innovations that have sent us back to the top, ie it is the alpha and omega of secrecy.
The time it takes. Nomos timepiece during the assembly process. The time it takes. Nomos timepiece during the assembly process. .
An arrow and longing
Spy Game in haute horlogerie has to do with the importance of being able to present something completely new, which takes clock world by storm. That was what happened when A. Lange & Söhne presented their first new watch in 1994. In just four years had the old grandeur resurrected and managed to deliver newly clockwork which still stands as milestones. Among them the immediate classic Lange 1 and masterpiece Tourbillon Pour la mérite.
It began thus in 1990. Just weeks it took; from Germany overnight was collected, A. Lange & Söhne were in place in its old premises in Glashütte. It was Walter Lange who stood at the head of the fine arts bell's return to Saxony, as was also his grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange established business here first time in the mid 1800s.
Ever since 1845 it had just been made watches of the highest quality in Glashütte, and for 100 years drifted A. Lange & Söhne and several other brands with great success. Glashütte was on par with Switzerland in recognition. Even Hitler war did not stop the business here, quite the contrary. Blitz War requires accurate Timing and Glashütte had good days, although war impure course was more spartan than the intricate masterpieces Lange had made earlier. Hitler himself was otherwise big fan of Lange watches.
An arrow and longing
Spy Game in haute horlogerie has to do with the importance of being able to present something completely new, which takes clock world by storm. That was what happened when A. Lange & Söhne presented their first new watch in 1994. In just four years had the old grandeur resurrected and managed to deliver newly clockwork which still stands as milestones. Among them the immediate classic Lange 1 and masterpiece Tourbillon Pour la mérite.
It began thus in 1990. Just weeks it took; from Germany overnight was collected, A. Lange & Söhne were in place in its old premises in Glashütte. It was Walter Lange who stood at the head of the fine arts bell's return to Saxony, as was also his grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange established business here first time in the mid 1800s.
Ever since 1845 it had just been made watches of the highest quality in Glashütte, and for 100 years drifted A. Lange & Söhne and several other brands with great success. Glashütte was on par with Switzerland in recognition. Even Hitler war did not stop the business here, quite the contrary. Blitz War requires accurate Timing and Glashütte had good days, although war impure course was more spartan than the intricate masterpieces Lange had made earlier. Hitler himself was otherwise big fan of Lange watches.
Sosialistur
However, what happened after the war was less in line with the high clock art psychology. DDR could obviously not be domicile for luxury products, so the whole industry in Glashütte was nationalized.
The marks were merged under the name GUB (Glashütter UHRENBETRIEB) and clock output scaled down in quality to anything that could get the big socialist family for good: still manage watches, but not exactly haute horlogerie. So it was thus 45 years. But the moment of Wall fell, was attentive souls on hand.
- It was a rare moment in history, says Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid.
Male for mechanics. A. Lange & Sohne CEO: clock boss and car hobbyist Wilhelm Schmid. Male for mechanics. A. Lange & Sohne CEO: clock boss and car hobbyist Wilhelm Schmid. .
- A concurrence of fortunate circumstances: a live reputation, talent locally, a favorable market for mechanical watches and a few ingenious brains.
Schmid speaks English with a South African accent raff which he acquired as chief of BMW in the country. He has steered the vehicle manufacturer operations in many countries.
- As bilmann overall I wristwatch, he says.
- Now I collect cars.
He has parked his gray Jaguar E-Type down the road.
Control
Lange is part of Richemont Group, the world's second largest player in the market for luxury products (after LVMH).
- It gives us the necessary international infrastructure to reach out, says Schmid.
Although Richemont other brands in the portfolio, which are partly competitors, it is a great point that every producer is independent. Internal development and production of their own movements are the hallmarks of all mobile phone. They aim to control all stages of production. Best in class is Rolex, which even has control over metal foundries.
In Lange's case it belonging to a large parent company that makes this possible, because resources can be used on the bells and not marketing and distribution. There was also help from established manufacturers who helped A. Lange & Söhne in 1990. Günter Blumlein, who ruled the exclusive Swiss brands Jaeger LeCoultre and IWC, so the possibility of a new start for Lange and Glashütte.
- It was his genius that together with Walter Lange dream to revive the family tradition, made it possible for us to be resurrected in the way we did, says Schmid.
- Then there was the myth Lange, it lived. Tagged had never lost its status, clock world had not forgotten what we once stood for. So it was a kind of longing here in Glashütte that we would come back.
Hero product. In the large exhibition space at Lange there cases where the hottest bells displayed; "Hero products," Schmid call them. There are watches that are made in extremely limited editions, which cost many million, and that actually has the sole purpose to show the world what a producer is able to. They take many years to develop, and only a very few watchmakers are able to put them together. But as with Formula 1 betting with automakers, these are unclean development driver ahead.
Langes star named Grand Complication, and each of the six copies costing around 16 million. It features seven complications, ie additional features to the actual time stamp, for example, can chime with tiny bells and hammers.
The point of haute horlogerie is to achieve the maximum complicated the smallest possible space. And how beautiful it is unnecessary; there is certainty about a perfection beyond any sense and usefulness.
Every watch from Lange adornments in the depths that can not be seen. If it is physically possible to engrave part, done it. The ground and polished to a finish that is absolutely second to none. One month it may take to polish a single microscopic part. The materials are rare and fragile, such as "German silver": an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel which is so delicate that it takes almost touch just by being in the fresh air.
Because everything is so complicated and fragile and extremely fine-tuned, set all the clocks at Lange together twice: almost like a Zen exercise, first perfect and so again to improve perfection. Up to one year, it takes to assemble each clock.
Leap Year Time
Urmakeren Andreas has brought o'clock he works with, which in Norway is 619,000 dollars, a photo approved rooms. He is driven by the ambition of the perfect, he says, and explains how complication called eternal calendar - which then can display leap year date February 29 - based on a disc which rotates once every four years.
Achieving a mechanical cycle of four years puts your mind in a spin: it gives a feeling that these trips are brains; who remembers based on gears and springs. It reminds one of haute horlogerie in some ways exist outside historical time; bells actually belong same world as ancient mysterious Antikythera mechanism. - Any competitor can buy the our watches and studying complications, says Wilhelm Schmid.
- But the point is how we do it. That is why we are so careful to assess people's character before we employ. Loyalty and stamina is important, he says.
- This is the first picture of me ever without a tie, he says when he himself be photographed.
- It stands well in the style of their Scandinavian temperament, I can imagine.
Perhaps it is deliberately that he dropped his tie today? A. Lange & Söhne plan to establish a retail Oslo. For although Schmid claims that he does not share some of their Swiss colleagues wonder that the world's richest country cares so little about watches, time is obviously ripe for making "the best clock you've never heard of" a little more known in Norway .
Ostalgie
About A. Lange & Söhne is the only manufacturer in Glashütte belonging absolute top echelon in clocking the world, there are many who believe that the most beautiful bells of all of them made farther down the road, at Glashütte Original.
This mark belongs prestige segment, just below the top. They make watches ranging from 40,000 dollars up to 2,500,000 million Grande Cosmopolite Tourbillon. Some of the most popular is the new, upgraded versions of watches that were made here in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Sixties, with midnight blue disc. Vintage Series reflects that Glashütte Original is the direct continuation of the nationalized company that existed here from 1945 to 1990.
Publicist Michael Hammer explains: When the state-owned company would re-privatized in 1990, it was initially difficult to find investors. The market for the type of watches GUB had made was gone, and from 1990 to 1994, the number of workers in 2500 to around 70.
- Some of them joined the newly species at Lange. But most found themselves without jobs. Then came the people on the path to see the potential to recreate GUB as a prestige brand, and Glashütte Original was born, says Hammer.
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Technology and stars
In Original building is easier and more transparent than things with Lange, although the basic thinking is the same, namely that Glashütte also stock clockwork their selves. The first was the now legendary Julius Assmann no. 1, Flying Tourbillon, which came in 1995.
Michael Hammer shows willingly advanced machines that store the hundreds of specialized parts clockwork consists. It is a strange relative strength: huge CNC machines and erosion cutters stands and sums while cutting out plates and springs and millers gears so small that they can hardly be seen with the naked eye. This picture says something about what watchmaker really is about: computerized mastodons stock microscopic parts that human hands putting together the most intricate mechanics.
There is a strange reflexive exercise, as if evolution should return to a previous paragraph that has been deselected. Why? Perhaps it is because impure is something real in a virtual world, there is something tangible in a contemporary where many have lost their sense of authenticity; there is something timeless which ironically keeps track of the time.
Michael Hammer opens the code locked halls where it sits watchmakers in rows. Strong lamps provide a halo to each desk. Glashütte Original has 400 employees. At Lange is the 600. There are good days in the city Glashütte.
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Urgeniene
Michael Hammer shows off the workshops where the small, synthetic rubies inserted as for bearings in all real clockwork. That's because they are so hard and therefore creates less friction than metal. He shows how tiny steel screws heated to 300 degrees, so they are blue: the blueing of the screws is a crafts signature. He shows engraving and embossing, polishing and grinding. Specialised subjects all together; years of training, secret techniques.
So the question is: will we see the sacred studio, prototype workshop where ur geniuses develop their mechanical miracles? Will we see the work of a tourbillon, "whirlwind", which is the cardinal-complication? It had once its function in pocket; an anti-gravity mechanism that would prevent the clock slowed in the pocket because gravity and Earth's rotation went in the movement. On a wristwatch has tourbillon quite small effect. Yet this very noble mark for a clock. Tourbillon is the epitome of the extremely complicated, unnecessary with haute horlogerie: a small miracle that more than anything else showcases mechanics spinning beauty.
Unfortunately it is impossible to do to get into the studio. It is called and whispered, but no. It is too sensitive, it must be better planned. Nobody would have thought we would ask to see a tourbillon, ie a naked one, outside clock.
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Politics
Glashütte Original owned by Swatch Group, one of the largest players on the market, which also includes other prestige brands such as Breguet and Blancpain in the portfolio. And advantages are the same as those mentioned previously: infrastructure, muscles.
The special Swatch Group, clean clock politically - and which fosters many knowing glances on the street in Glashütte - is that the company also owns ETA, the world's largest producer of clean clockwork. ETA has long been a supplier of the clockwork - or parts of them - most of the world's clock marks; a specially manufacturer with a sovereign reputation as almost single-handedly responsible for the quality guarantee as a watch is stamped Swiss Made.
Parallel to that more and more of the best clock manufacturers began to make their own clockwork, black Swatch by declaring that it would stop selling parts for other than their own sub-brands. This was obviously crisis for the manufacturers still rely on ETA. The defendants Swatch and Swiss law has determined that Swatch must submit clockwork in the same volume as in 2010 until 2016. Then it becomes second round.
Glashütte Original is a Swatch brand, but stock still their movements, because it is a prestige brand in line with the expectation must.
Nomos
In 2014, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on major news in clock world. "The monopoly is broken," was the headline. Again amounted Swatch Group is a part of history, through the consumption Nivarox. Regardless of ETA and deliveries of clockwork, it Nivarox alone that have supplied clock world with balance spring that regulates the actual clockwork ticking heart, the section called escapement.
So difficult is it to make this spring - two milligrams heavy - that even the nobles have relied on Nivarox. Glashütte Original user Nivarox 'escapement, but not Lange. So secret is metal alloy it is made of - also called nivarox - the chemical recipe stored in a safe somewhere in Switzerland. So has the Swatch Group had a monopoly and an extreme power. And it is this monopoly which is now broken by a small manufacturer in Glashütte.
It says something about this manufacturer that it spent ten million euros and seven years to become fully independent, to construct their own clockwork heart completely from scratch.
Nomos housed in the old railway station in Glashütte, which is built on and made light. And the atmosphere is quite different than the other producers. Here it is more like an architectural office than a bank. Wherefore also Nomos a mark for architects, designers, journalists and artists. A Berlin-label manner of speaking, since both the idea and designs are there.
It was about one man's dream of making watches to their friends. Roland Schwertner took the opportunity when it presented itself in Glashütte in upheaval year 1990. The friends were just artistic people from Berlin. Therefore Nomos from the start of a part of the German crafts guild, and thus the continuation of Bauhaus.
The right time. At Nomos, all employees a watch when they start. Not so with the other brands, where bells costs annual salaries and more. The right time. At Nomos, all employees a watch when they start. Not so with the other brands, where bells costs annual salaries and more. .
The bells also looking into like: simple, clean ur, which constantly wins design awards. But they hold thus Nomos' patented mechanism - their swing system.
Director Uwe Ahrendt welcomes in Nomos' floating showroom onto railroad tracks. In 2013 he was appointed to this year's entrepreneur in Germany. To have broken the monopoly, and Nomos' formidable growth in recent years. From small, ideologically start've marked now 200 employees and continues to grow. It hit another segment with their watches than the other two Glashütte brands: Der Lange cost from 120,000 dollars and upwards, Glashütte Original start at around 40,000 dollars, you can get a thoroughbred Nomos from 10,000.
The latest news, Zurich Weltzeit, costing around 30,000 million: a distinctive expression of personality - which is of course the mechanical clock main job - but achievable also for those who do not have unlimited funds.
Nomos is a gateway to the world horlogiske and there are clocks that says your tastes are a little less traditional. Bauhaus out, Antikythera inside, it's Nomos. Although most Nomos timepiece is relatively simple, without many complications and with an emphasis on clean design also Nomos their hero ur showing what they can. Nomos Lambda costs but not millions but horlogisk modest 110,000.
At Nomos they see a bright future. And the future of mechanical watches generally they are not worried at all.
-For The first is a clock a real investment, says Judith Borowski, head of the Berlin-based design agency, before she - seriously - adds:
- Mechanical watches are the also brilliant bribery, coveted and easy to smuggle. In an era where money can be traced, one must find other things of great value which can be taken around the world without anyone questioning it.
It is not only inclined towards tradition, perfection and fine mechanical innovation that drives demand for haute horlogerie: there is also the old benefit of carry something of great value.
On a deeper level it is possibly also a reminder? Is not it so that the mechanical clockwork reminiscent solar system and on basic physics? It is precisely the universe that gives us the time and calendar, sun and moon once; Earth's rotation. And therefore it is also the solar system being as the backdrop for many of the complications in the best clocks, perpetual calendar, world clock, moon phases.
Haute horlogerie draws on the ancient connection between navigation and starry; Meanwhile and the universe.
Photo: A. Lange & Söhne Photo: A. Lange & Söhne.
A. Lange & Söhne
Founded by Ferdinand Adolph in Glashütte in 1845.
Created prestigious watches until 1948, when it was incorporated into the nationalized GUB.
New start in 1990, with Ferdinand Adolph Lange's great grandson Walter Lange at the helm.
Has established itself as one of the absolute foremost urmerkene.
Bearing watches from 120.000 million to 16 million.
Planning to establish a retail location in Oslo.
Net alange-soehne.com
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