A. Lange & Söhne, perfection down to after-sales service

The most complicated watch ever made in Germany took centre-stage at A. Lange & Söhne for the Watches&Wonders Fine Watch fair, held end September in Hong Kong. And for good reason: this Grand Complication wristwatch was more than seven years in development. Three barrels power a grande and a petite sonnerie, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph with minute counter and jumping seconds, and a perpetual calendar with moon phases. The only cloud on the horizon, so to speak, is that the six pieces in this limited edition won’t be enough. A. Lange & Söhne, which unveiled this extraordinary watch in January at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, has started sounding out the brand’s most avid customers… and two dozen have made it clear that they are willing to acquire the timepiece at the advertised price of €1.9 million. The question being, who to please and how not to frustrate those who inevitably will be “deprived”? This is the kind of dichotomy a brand must face when sailing in these waters.

Patience is a virtue

That A. Lange & Söhne should have achieved this level of desirability owes nothing to chance. Established in 1845 in Glashütte, in what was then East Germany, and renowned for the diabolical precision of its pocket watches, the company vanished during the Second World War then fell victim to Cold War politics. Since its rebirth in 1990, it has developed a full 43 movements in-house. Some, such as the Datograph, incorporate innovative complications produced in the fine Saxon tradition that has helped forge its reputation. After the crowning achievement of the Grand Complication, the 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar is the cherry on the cake. Also released this year and the eighth Lange chronograph movement, it reached the markets just as Watches&Wonders opened.

Such consummate mastery of technique, shown for example in a constant-force escapement, specificities such as a three-quarter plate, meticulously hand-finished components, and the double assembly process, is matched by after-sales service. A. Lange & Söhne prides itself on the claim that it can repair any of its watches, regardless of age. It’s just a matter of patience. “Presently, the waiting time to have a vintage watch taken in for servicing is two years,” explains Manfred Weber, Service Manager for the Asia-Pacific region who has 35 years’ seniority. “Collectors put their names down then wait their turn to bring us their watch.” Then there is the time required to restore these timepieces to their former glory. An A. Lange & Söhne watch made in 1880 was returned, fully restored, to its owner… two and a half years after entrusting it to Mr Weber’s careful hands.

Generation gap

Each year the company takes between six and eight apprentices at its own watchmaking school, “although we really need three times that number!” Weber exclaims. “There are four of us here in Hong Kong, two of whom, myself and my son, are fully-trained watchmakers. Once a month I travel to Shanghai to lead training sessions for the Richemont Group’s after-sales service, which handles certain of our watches. Watches made by A. Lange & Söhne over the past two to three years are almost always returned to Germany. Here, we take charge of the older watches. Of course we are fully trained for this in Glashütte and have all the necessary tools at our disposal.”

Only a rare few watchmakers possess the expertise that takes in every one of the Manufacture’s movements. One professional in ten, according to Manfred Weber, as they would have to have at least five to six years under their belt, between school and on-the-job training. “Not forgetting that the quartz crisis in the late 1970s means the profession skipped a generation. For more than a decade, mechanical watchmaking was a wilderness and because of this, in two or three years’ time, when I retire, there won’t be enough watchmakers to fill the gap.” Manfred Weber is clearly delighted by the fact that in his line of business, unemployment isn’t a cause for concern. But how carefully do watch companies need to “mind the gap”?