Anthony de Haas, without giving away too much, is one of our favorite interview subjects. Not only is he a charismatic personality and, consequently, always a great interview, he is also disarmingly honest about his work and A. Lange & Söhne in general. It is not meant to imply that other spokespersons such as Tino Bobe and Wilhelm Schmid are less forthright, but de Haas has a particular vibe. De Haas’ Dutchness could also be the reason.
Now, de Haas is hardly a stranger to us, and to you, being one of only three people who speak on the record for A. Lange & Söhne (all of whom have obliged us with face- time in the last five years or so). De Haas is a familiar face to us and you, as he’s one of only three people who speak on record for A. Lange & Sohne (all have given us some face-time in the last five years or so). This is far from the truth, as this watchmaking icon is in high demand for interviews. The reason – there are many but this one works as an indicative illustration – is that de Haas gives great quotes and is a hurricane of information. When you engage de Haas, it is possible to be swept up by a deluge information.
On the occasion of this latest meeting, WOW Thailand editor Ruckdee Chotjinda is with us because we are visiting the A. Lange & Söhne manufacture in Glashütte. Conversations took place in a conference room that was not particularly impressive. Also present were representatives from Robb Report Malaysia, QP Thailand and other journalists from the region. The questions and answers are mainly from Ruckdee, and the writer. Interjections have occurred, but they were not included for the sake brevity. The Robb Report journalist asked the second, about double-assembly.
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On that note, de Haas’ first answer is presented largely unedited, just so you can see how garrulous he can be, even when confronted with the simplest of questions (mine, as it happens, which is unusual for me). The question and answer were edited to improve clarity, length, and language but otherwise remain unchanged. In case you are wondering, de Haas’ answer unfolded over 10 mins, which took up all of my time for the interview, but he graciously carried on for well over the time the group was originally assigned. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or space to write a full-length piece about de Haas. We will have another chance, no doubt!
Tino Bobe presented the Odysseus chronograph to us this year at Watches & Wonders in Geneva. Congratulations! Everyone wants to know why you made this as a limited edition, and only a limited edition, which is a first for A. Lange & Söhne…
Yeah, now we thought it’s a very, very, very complicated chronograph (so) frankly, we said, you know what, let’s start with a limited edition in (steel), and then we’ll see. Let us first deliver these hundred pieces, then we’ll see. Making the world mad with (a claim that) “it’s available everywhere…” when we know that we struggle a little bit (with production)…we have long waiting lists for the steel Odysseus, the standard one. And we have titanium and white gold (versions of the standard time-only Odysseus); we were really overwhelmed by the success…by the demand for the Odysseus.
We launched the watch on October 19, 2019 and it received a lot of attention. That was a good thing. But by December already we had to have a production meeting because, you know, we don’t make dials, we’re not dial makers; the bracelets, we don’t make (this) in house. We ordered extra pieces for everything we asked our suppliers to supply. Then we all went into (COVID-19) lockdown and all those things got delayed and we never were able to catch up with the backlog…
We had another issue in house on the watchmaking side (movement). This may have been because we were surprised by the demand (for the Odysseus). The watchmakers working on calibre L155.1 are also the ones who work with the Lange 1 calibre L121.1). The qualification level for both is the same, so we now have a problem. Is the Odysseus of greater importance than the Lange 1 (calibre L121.1)? No! So, poor Tino and his team (have to manage this)…you can’t say to a watchmaker this week you make Odysseus and the week after you work on the Lange 1. It doesn’t work like that; for a watchmaker, it is annoying [de Haas himself is a trained watchmaker – Ed] We are actually going to do this.
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On the other hand, there is also planning – I have planning and development (under me) and you could (suggest) that I postpone development but that messes up my whole programme. This takes two to three year. The collection life cycle will be affected if I delay this.
We have two watchmakers currently in training for the calibre L156.1 [this is the Odysseus Chronograph calibre – Ed]. I say they are in training but they are not absolute beginners – they were previously working on the Triple Split. The Odysseus chronograph is different from all of the chronographs that we have ever made. I mean, yes there is a vertical clutch here but, as a watchmaker, when I hear ‘vertical clutch’ I think of something made industrially. The challenge was to make something different. The two new guys are eager to start working on the Odysseus Chronograph. If they begin in November, perhaps the first pieces can be delivered as early as 2024.
Also, do not underestimate the complexity. For something like the zero-reset (function of the Langematik Perpetual and 1815 Tourbillon)…I get questions about why we do not have a zero-reset across the collections because it is so genius… We could do it, in the regular Lange 1 for example, but then the price of the watch would explode…it would be EU10,000 more expensive (or more) because the zero-reset is almost like a chronograph mechanism itself. There are more components, so there is more space.
Because it’s so challenging and different (returning to the Odysseus chronograph), we do a lot in the laboratory. We test the chronograph start-stop action 50,000 time, then another 50,000 after the chronograph has run for 10 minutes. (All of this is done by machine; there is no one sitting there who can start, stop, and restart the clock). German quality control is what we need! This is why we said just 100 pieces, although – on the first day of Watches and Wonders Geneva – our sales guys asked why we do not make 250 pieces. We are aware that the Odysseus Chronograph could be sold to up to 500 people. [and probably much more than this – Ed] We said that we would first produce and deliver 100 pieces (again because it was a first-time challenge). How fast – relatively – we can even make these watches is something we don’t know. We do not know if we could make one watch in one year, or two years… Selling the watches is one thing, making them is another thing.
You are going to be developing (something like an Odysseus chronograph). [meaning journalists and collectors – Ed] You will never see, because we are building something brand new. Maybe, these two watchmakers who will work on the Odysseus Chronograph will say “Oh, this is easy; I can do one a month,” but we just don’t know before we start. We need a solid plan to tell us when we can expect to deliver. Look (bottom line), we are not playing games here…it is not like we have 50 ready already, but we’re waiting a little bit because it is interesting…
Sorry, this is a very long answer to a relatively short question, but I’m bad at short answers.
Tell us more about double-assembly, which is a signature at A. Lange & Söhne.
In the world of complicated things, second assembly happens a lot. I used to be a watchmaker at Audemars Piguet, in Switzerland [close to 20 years ago now because de Haas celebrates his 20th anniversary at A. Lange & Sohne in 2024 – Ed]. We did the exact same thing. In the process of the first assembly, you might get oil all over the movement, and you don’t want to sell something in that state. You take it apart, and you clean it. That’s what we also do. The special thing we have at A. Lange & Sohne is German silver and this material is a bit sensitive. If you touch it, it will oxidise – but of course no watchmaker will ever touch any component with (bare) fingers. Never. Whether it’s here, Patek Phillipe or Seiko [component manufacturing is another matter though, no matter where you go, and contact with bare skin might happen – Ed].
You probably saw more manufacturers than I did, but you didn’t see our CNC machines. But there is one machine we have that no one else has, and if I were to give the (A. Lange & Söhne) tour that would be the only machine I would show. This is a washing-machine for German silver parts. This was developed with the Dresden Technical University. When you, for instance, make a baseplate or a geartrain bridge, the machine will do one side first, and then the second. The parts are then placed in the washing machine. That, to me, is really interesting (and different here at A. Lange & Söhne).
Double-assembly (where we do a first assembly of every calibre and then take them all apart and do everything again) has been standard at A. Lange & Söhne since the start. This is how we do things. We tried doing a single assembly with the Saxonia once, and it was a complete disaster. You think we would save time but we didn’t; we wasted time!
On that note, A. Lange & Sohne does not do everything in-house, so how do you decide what things you will do?
There are some exceptions to our rule of not making dials or cases. Vacheron Constantin helped us when we had issues with enamel dials. You know, in Glashütte, there are maybe eight or nine watchmaking brands, and zero dialmakers. This means a dialmaker won’t have enough business here to survive. Imagine the amount of money it would take to start and operate a dialmaker. Generally, we don’t like to deal with this.
We also make some cases, but we leave the rest to the casemakers in Switzerland (Richemont). You may have heard that we do not make our own screws, and it’s true. We do know how to make these parts, and we make prototypes. We send the specs to specialists that have at least 40 times as many machines as we have or can have. This specialist would be a good choice to manufacture these components.
You know that we manufacture hair springs and we would like to continue doing so. Yes, we can produce for others. However, I like to experiment. You’re familiar with the Zeitwerk remontoir system? There is a second hairspring there, and you must know we never would have found this solution… even had the idea of a remontoir system in the Zeitwerk, if we didn’t have hairspring manufacturing capacity.
This article first appeared on WOW’s Legacy 2024 issue.
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