An Interview with Beat Weinmann of ochs und junior

How did the idea for ochs und junior come about?

Ludwig Oechslin and I were involved in creating the MIH watch six years ago. A watch that involves some lateral thinking that’s different from the usual fare you can expect from the watch industry. Watchmakers like to build so-called complications into their timepieces that usually consist of as many components as possible, and are as complex as possible. Oechslin, by contrast, is a quite rarity amongst watch designers. The breadth and depth of his learning – which includes theoretical mathematics, archaeology, astronomy and, for instance, the restoration of the Farnese Clock in the Vatican – is reflected in his achievements. Not unlike Renaissance scientists, he adopts tangential approaches to concepts and sidesteps accepted practice. His study of mathematics has taught him that simpler is always more elegant and inherently preferable – provided, of course, that the outcome is correct! Faced with a complex issue surrounding a useful function, Oechslin loves responding with a solution that’s as simple as it is satisfying. The MIH watch was a first toe in the water in that direction.

ochs und junior is a logical continuation down that path of intelligent – and unusual –simplification. Simplicity and rigour are acknowledged aspects of architecture, industrial design, art and software programming. The ingeniously simple solution is usually the one that becomes a classic in the long run. Oechslin has a number of great ideas in the pipeline – they don’t stop coming. ochs und junior is the platform he uses to bring them to fruition; my role as Embassy staffer is to ensure that that happens as transparently as possible.

Oechslin is without a doubt the most multi-layered watch developer of our time, and it stands to reason that he should have his own watch company producing his ideas.

What is your design philosophy?

Design at ochs und junior is not something separate – it emerges from the process of conceptualisation and simplification. The most striking outward manifestation of this is, perhaps, the complete absence of lettering and numbering on the dials. Read at a glance, an analogue display is always more intuitive than a digital one. This realisation has, in the past, led to oversized date indications that overwhelm the aesthetic of the overall timepiece.

Oechslin has taken a different approach: his calendar displays at ochs und junior take the form of series of perforations in the dial through which orange dots can be seen. It doesn’t take long to become accustomed to the concept, and it makes for a more readable and unified aesthetic. The perforations are unique to ochs und junior and highly recognisable, so there’s no need for additional branding on the dial.

This, together with the two-part case which we leave unpolished (because we want people to see the precision of the machining we have achieved), makes for a unique and highly distinctive design. I haven’t even begun to describe the other USPs, such as the eco-tanned leather straps with their clever buckles. Not many watches can lay claim to that.

Our new Tinta series allows the customer to choose any Pantone colour for the dial, any one of ten colours for the luminous hands and indices, and from a range of colourways for the leather straps. Whatever combination of shades is chosen, the watches are always identifiable as ochs und junior!

I believe all ideas originate with Ludwig Oechslin. Can you give us some insight as to his process?

Oechslin comes up with things that he himself finds useful. For instance, in the anno cinquanta he has an annual calendar indication that needs adjusting just once a year at the end of February. So what, you may ask. But consider this: the indication with its date, weekday and month indications consists of just three components! Functions of this nature generally consist of around 40 components! This annual calendar is a perfect example of what ochs und junior is all about. Then there’s our dual time zone due ore: Oechslin has a watchmaking colleague in Boston who has a habit of waking him up in the middle of the night. Being aware of other people’s time zones can be useful! Oechslin’s solution could not be simpler or more logical. His answer is to allow both time zones to be seen at the same time – the second one via an hour disk on the dial: simply pull out the crown by one click and turn this hour disk to set the hour offset.

Oechslin always thinks his concepts through in his head before committing them to computer. The idea is then number-crunched and a prototype produced that’s fresh from the lathe and imbued with a charisma all its own. He then sends me a photo of it and we discuss whether it should be produced under the ochs und junior banner and when.

To give you an idea of the process, his moonphase watch, the selene Tinta (which, by the way, boasts the world’s most accurate moonphase indication, even though it consists of just five components including the functional dial), was preceded by a series of eight prototypes.

We discuss and show the prototypes in our blog. An important part of the process is that we can carry out most of the work amongst our small network of highly specialised collaborators. Peter Cantieni, for instance, manufactures the dials, cases, buckles and most of our additional functions and even some hands. He’s a specialist in high-precision titanium machining for Sauber’s Formula One cars.

You work with watchmaker Paul Gerber. What is his role in the company?

Paul’s involvement with us stems from his making of the MIH watch for Embassy, amongst other things. In such a small enterprise, it’s vital to have the right people on board who can respond quickly and flexibly to unforeseen circumstances – something that the watch industry knows all about.

In terms of ochs und junior, he designed and built his own movement for our anno cinquanta, and builds the entire annual calendar function for it; he also builds the weekday function for our settimana junior. As the watchmaker behind the more classic interpretations of the watchmaker’s art at ochs und junior, he’s one of our key collaborators!

What is your personal involvement in the brand?

I’ve been at Embassy in Lucerne for 15 years. Over the years we have acquired a tremendous amount of expertise and an extensive range of outstanding watch brands. We probably offer one of Switzerland’s greatest varieties of watches. Aside from the well-known brands, we became interested in the watchmaker members of the Horological Academy of Independent Creators (AHCI) and started retailing their products. Our friendship with Ludwig Oechslin led to our ochs und junior partnership. In terms of the MIH watch, I came up with the general concept and coordinate the procurement of materials, plus its production and sale. My involvement in ochs und junior includes thinking up the concepts, coming up with unconventional packaging solutions, overall procurement of materials, plus overseeing our sales and communications activities. From my employer Embassy’s point of view, I act in a way, as Ludwig Oechslin’s minder!

How do you make your watches and what movements do you use?

Ludwig conceptualises, develops and finalises the designs. Peter Cantieni then manufactures most of the components. For the anno cinquanta and the quasi-prototype idea series, we use white or red gold for the dials and some of the functions. We heat-patinate the gold parts in a very hot oven, which turns them dark grey. The surfaces are marked by tiny black spots owing to minute oxygen explosions in the extreme heat, which results in every dial being unique. At that point the watch becomes a wearable piece of art sharing a direct lineage with Oechslin’s sculptures:

The watches are then built either by Paul Gerber – the anno cinquanta is powered by a calibre of his making with a 100-hour power reserve – or Embassy’s talented watchmaker, Lukas Messerli, who builds the other watches around the ETA calibre 2824 self-winding mechanical movement. This robust, proven movement is a perfect fit for the ochs und junior concept of pared-down minimalism. All of Oechslin’s prototypes are based on the ETA 2824, which he trusts implicitly based on years of work with that movement.

You’ve commented that people have said your watches are a bit rough and not finished well. You said that is the point of the designs. Can you explain this further?

Our cases are machined and lathed to a high standard of precision. Our philosophy is to show the tremendous workmanship, not hide it behind polishing! It’s a unique approach, but one that’s logical given our desire for honest reductionism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier worked with visible girders and raw concrete in their architecture. We’re in good company! The watch industry, on the whole, tends to shy away from really innovative and coherent design concepts. Much of what you see in the market consists of looking back, a kind of retro/nostalgia, so our lack of polishing and fondness for natural patination comes as a bit of a shock to some people. It doesn’t sit comfortably alongside the traditional values of endless finishing and polishing, and incorporating as much complication as possible. Some people find that irritating, others stimulating. We know of leading architects who think that the ochs und junior ethos leads the watch industry in terms of modernism.

Which different lines of watches do you have and how are they differentiated?

The latest family of watches is our Tinta series. Tinta means colour, and alludes to the fact that our customers can choose whatever colour they want for their dials. Off the shelf, we have a selection of combinations such as a dark-blue dial with white hands, and a grey dial with orange hands, plus other variations. A customer who wants something else can either come and see us in Lucerne, or communicates via e-mail, skype or letter. We are really flexible.

The Tinta line-up currently includes the mese Tinta, the due ore Tinta and the selene Tinta. Other variants will follow.

Our idea line-up showcases our technical and philosophical roots. They are the nearest you can get to an Oechslin prototype. We produce very short runs of these watches. The case is always silver and 39 mm in diameter. The dial, hands and function components are fashioned from gold.

As for the anno cinquanta, that’s powered by a Paul Gerber calibre and features Oechslin’s unique three-component annual calendar. It’s a watchmaking masterpiece with the benefit of ochs und junior’s pared-down minimalism. The watch is available in white gold, red gold and silver.

Then there’s the settimana junior. Our kids’ watch – or anyone else for that matter! The back of the titanium case is engraved with the owner’s name and address, and the dot moving behind the perforations in the dial indicates the day of the week.

What do you have planned for the future in terms of design and direction?

Our design ethos is clear, and we’ll be pursuing it going forward. We’ll carry on producing and developing ingenious solutions and making robust and useful watches imbued with plenty of individuality. There’s a growing niche of people out there who appreciate good workmanship with cult status that’s not part of the mass market. More and more people are seeking out honest, transparent products that incorporate a clear, graspable ethos; they are turning their back on heavily marketed products. Our watches are made for such people. We are aiming to come up with yet more technically stunning ideas!

Your website is very casual, using cartoon-like drawings. Why did you make this choice to represent your company?

The settimana junior concept came right at the start of the ochs und junior story and took just a couple of minutes to dream up. Anti-allergenic titanium, owner’s details on the back, self-winding mechanical movement, natural rubber strap, 100% Swiss Made, and packaging consisting of a cartoon telling the story of the watch. The cartoon was by Sjoerd van Rooijen. We really liked the unconventional nature of the approach, so we decided to pursue it for the company as a whole. In the meantime, Sjoerd has drawn Ludwig Oechslin so many times he can do it in his sleep – and Oechslin has a great sense of humour.

You seem to have a very organic, grass roots approach to distributing your brand. It’s only available online and at Embassy.

That was one of our key decisions! We think that a company can either be big enough or small enough. The danger comes when you’re between the two! Outfits that are big enough are ones like Swatch or Richemont. They have the marketing muscle to make an impact worldwide. We can’t afford to advertise as such, so there’s also no point in setting up worldwide distribution. Instead, we offer products that can be made in small quantities and that don’t involve a middle-man’s margin or eye-watering marketing budgets – and that we sell direct to the customer. That’s about as exclusive as it gets! Also, in this globalised, over-distributed world, people like being able to stumble across niche products. It’s something that happens on their travels through Lucerne or by browsing the internet. Our prices are absolutely transparent: ochs und junior watches and the MIH watch cost the same whoever you are and however you buy. There are no discounts. It’s a rather unusual situation in the watch industry, but we reckon it’s a fair one.

Do you plan to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to spread awareness?

Absolutely, they’re very useful! As a mono-distributor, we couldn’t exist without the internet. We have a website, a blog that informs on new developments and the goings-on at ochs und junior, and we now also have a Facebook page.

We like it when people pass on our details to others. We may well start tweeting, too…

What makes your watches so special?

The ideas! ochs und junior watches are full of ideas, yet also highly functional. They have flair, clean lines and a distinctive ochs und junior character. Plus the fact that some models can come in any colour means that customers are basically wearing one-offs – and that has rarity value.

Why did you decide not to use a logo?

Actually, we do have one. You can only see it if you take the watch off and look on the back of the eco-tanned leather strap, where it’s branded on. Our brand is literally branded on the back of the cow with a hot iron – it’s our little bit of whimsy. But seriously: there are people out there – the no-logo generation – with subtle sensibilities who don’t like going around with brash branding. The same goes for clothes, cars… Some people ask their car dealers to remove the model name and other lettering from the rear. Visually speaking, clutter like that detracts from the overall look. Funnily enough, watches all have their logos in the same place on the dial, even those designed by star designers from outside the industry. It’s the same for Patek as it is for Swatch. We believe it’s time to do something different. Some people miss having a logo – but then they probably won’t be our target audience. Others prefer it that way from an aesthetic point of view.

Beat Weinmann (born 1971) has been with Lucerne-based watch retail specialist Embassy for over 15 years. Alongside his duties as a member of the company’s management board, the acknowledged watch expert has direct responsibility for the two brands realised by Embassy in partnership with Ludwig Oechslin. Weinmann formulates the concepts, coordinates the procurement of materials and oversees the sales and communications activities. A father of two teenagers, he comes to work on a handmade skateboard, likes food produced in a sustainable way, and gets all enthusiastic about exciting ideas.