In his interview with us, Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of the haute horlogerie marque, explains how its new re-designed boutique showcases not only the historic roots of the brand but also its growth and vision for the future
Can you elaborate on the new A. Lange & Söhne boutique?
The first boutique proposal went back to 2004 and we launched the first one in 2007 at Dresden. In those days, we played a lot on the German roots of the brand – the sandstone, the grey and the baroque elements. We were clear that we wanted to explain where we come from and showcase it. But since then, the brand has grown a lot. We are more mature and solid, and we have a very different approach to many things. We believe that we need to express that we have changed so that people look see us in a different way.
If you look at our new Manufacture, there are some similarities to our old Manufacture, but it is also different. And that is exactly what we wanted: you see our heritage, and you immediately recognise it as A. Lange & Söhne but it also had to be refreshing and contemporary, with a lot more emphasis on details and structure. We have also learned over time how to cater for processes, and we mustn’t forget that the sales process has to take place in this area.
What do you mean when you speak of the sales process?
It is quite simple; while some people prefer to sit in the general area, others prefer privacy. You then need an area for bill payments, to deal with complaints, for interviews, the reception, and so on. We have to think about these processes when designing a boutique, and what you see here is the result of all these different considerations.
When did the brand decide to re-design its boutiques?
We started the process around 2013-14.
What was the main criteria for re-designing the boutique?
We were very clear on a few things. The old concept was pretty much our heritage, and where we come from. The new concept also had to show where we are today and where we want to be in the future. So, the emphasis should be less on our past and more on looking forward. It had to have all the requirements that modern life comes with, digital things that our old systems were not geared for.
The second thing was that it had to be very clearly A. Lange & Söhne boutique; so there had to be a lot of details but it also had to use new materials and had to be more inviting, and more open than the previous one.
Is the Dubai boutique the first to be launched in the new design?
No; Dresden was the first boutique that debuted the new design, as it is easier to supervise something that is in front of you rather than 5,000 miles away. The second one is our Singapore boutique, which we opened three weeks ago. This is the third one.
Will all of A. Lange & Söhne boutiques across the world be updated with the new design, and look similar?
No, it will not look the same. There will always be some common elements that you can see everywhere. In Singapore, where we opened three weeks ago, we had only 70 square metres area and a height of 3.40 metres to play around in, and this includes the back office. We have to have different executions in different places. You will always see the golden L shape, and Bauhaus elements like the big wall, which is a lot smaller there. There will be similarities but you have to have local adaptations to cater for smaller sizes.
How many boutiques does Lange currently have? How many of those are in China?
We have 15 boutiques worldwide; and six in China. We have one in Macau, two in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai and two in Beijing.
What are your future plans for expansion of the brand’s boutiques? Isn’t it true that the more boutiques you open, the more watches the brand has to produce?
Yes, that is true but at the same time, we have reduced the number of Points of Sales (POS) worldwide by around 20 within the past year, and we will go further down. The idea is to have quality not quantity. You need to carry stock everywhere, and we would rather have it focused in one place rather than distributed all over. At the moment, we are literally opening a boutique a month with some of them retailer-owned. That is the speed that we want to continue. We believe that it is infinitely better to have one POS – with properly trained people, the right stock and with the right access to the headquarters – in a city rather than many POS where you are just one of the many. There are cities where a stand-alone boutique does not make sense financially, and I understand that. But wherever it makes sense, we shall emphasis on that.
How did the name Odysseus, with a Greek ancestry, come up for Lange’s new watch family?
Firstly, we wanted a name that is distinctly different from anything else we have done so far. Then, it had to be a name with a meaning. Odysseus was not the hardest, the strongest, or the toughest among the Greek heroes, but he was the cleverest, and the one most resilient. He was the most persistent, and it was due to him that the Trojan walls fell. He never lost sight of his target; he changed his way, and he prevailed until he got back home to his wife and family.
Who introduced the name?
We had around a trillion names ready; we never counted the number of names that the team came up with. We liked the meaning of this name. The next consideration was the pronunciation globally; since this is a common name in English, pronunciation would not be a challenge. I do not know who actually came up with the name; it is like Darwin’s concept. We had a lot of names initially, but some didn’t make the cut and then eventually we had one left and that was the Odysseus.
When did the idea of the Odysseus watch come up in Lange?
To be honest, it was always there. Even Mr Blümlein had ideas of coming up with a watch for the most precious time of the year, which is when you stay with your family and are on vacation. We just didn’t have a good idea on how to execute it, and didn’t want to do a ‘me too’ product.
When I first arrived, we had intense discussions about what is it that we need to do to secure what we are, but also make it a more solid place. We were very clear that as long as we did not have a face, we would not start working on that. It was a long time before our team came up with the date indication and the change of the case design with the two push button functions. It was four years before we could show a prototype at the SIHH this year. Obviously, we have made a few changes from the prototype.
Was the original design in steel with a bracelet, especially as this is very contrary to Lange’s philosophy of only producing classic designs with precious metals such as gold?
We always said that we produce classical men’s watches in precious metals; it is a men’s watch but it is not classical in design. We launched a steel watch because there are people like me. Whenever I go to South Africa to my house, I am careful. Jumping into the pool, going to the beach, and playing with my kids, I never had a watch on my wrist because I was always worried about scratching it, damaging the leather, or losing it. With this one, I can. We have very loyal customers who really love us. I always felt that it is a shame that such hardworking people cannot use our watches on their vacations, as they are afraid to do so.
When you first started working with this watch, was it intended to be the sixth watch family of Lange?
Yes, we decided that we would not work on a steel iteration of our traditional watch families, because I would have really struggled to explain that. We did do a few steel watches, but that was in the 1990s when the company was very young. But in my time with Lange, the only steel watch we did was the Homage to Walter Lange watch.
Why is the dial in blue?
We have used blue before, last year and the year before we used blue in details. Blue is not unusual for us. I think steel and blue, especially with these different surface executions, looks just right and we are very particular. If it is a platinum Datograph watch, it would come with a black dial. We never put a black dial on a white gold Datograph. We have fixed combinations. If it is black dial, it is platinum, so now this is fixed; if it is blue, it is steel.
