High End Industry News: A. Lange & Söhne Moves Marketing & Comms To Berlin Replica At Lowest Price
The dial facet has lots of other treats for the onlooker, particularly people connected into the perpetual calendar and also the rattrapante chronograph. The former is composed of 206 components, nearly a third of the 684 total element count of the L133.1 standard. Lange’s moon phase is “accurate to 122.6 decades” — mind you, that “precision” means that it takes that much time to get the moon phase display to be off by a complete moment. This form of random way is the way the accuracy of moon phase displays in watches is usually determined, not that anyone really cares about real usefulness beyond its aesthetic and technology element.The rattrapante chronograph on the other hand is among the most technically impressive and challenging complications out there. Some watchmakers I asked told me that they find it even more challenging to perform than the usual sonnerie or minute repeater, and definitely a much bigger pain in the neck compared to a perpetual calendar (unless it is instantaneous and/or further complicated). Both laser sharp chronograph seconds palms rest a hair’s width over one another in their reset position, with all the blue being the rattrapante hand, managed by the pusher in the 10 o’clock position of this case.
A. Lange & Söhne was founded in 1845 in Glashütte, a small, former silver mining town in eastern Germany. Soviet control saw it nationalised, but after the Berlin Wall fell the company was restablished in 1990, once again in Glashütte, still a small town with a population of about 6000.
Consequently Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid has decided to move the watchmaker’s marketing and communications team to Berlin, with the lease on its new office slated to be signed in October 2017. Watchmaking and management will remain in Glashütte, which is about 40 minutes from regional capital Dresden.
The modern day Lange Uhren headquarters that was once home to the Lange family
Having proclaimed itself “Poor but Sexy” in its tourism campaign, Berlin is now a fast growing and dynamic city that’s home to hipster cafes, hot nightclubs and tech startups (and a notoriously delayed airport).
Not poor but still sexy
The purpose of the move is to “create an ideal environment for the future digital and creative development of [Lange]”, something difficult to achieve in Glashütte, which by virtue of its size and environment isn’t a magnet for young creative professionals.
The Berlin Festival of Lights
While many watchmakers in Germany and Switzerland boast talented technical staff and artisans, recruiting employees versed in the digital economy and social media is challenging. Another Glashütte-based watchmaker, Nomos, already has its design and communications teams in Berlin, a crucial factor in the brand’s unique identity and styling according to its CEO.
Overlooking the town of Glashütte
Lange’s move is eminently sensible, and bodes well for the brand. It’s akin to a Swiss watchmaker in Le Locle or Neuchatel moving its creative team to Zurich, or even better, Paris or London.
