Lange CEO interview with SJX about the new steel Odysseus

[Der Amf]

https://watchesbysjx.com/2019/11/int...-odysseus.html

Here are some extracts, which should make sense out of context. But obviously reading the whole thing would be better.

.... It’s always easy to come up with one watch. It’s often more difficult if you want to have a recognisable face that can have different iterations and complications later on. So whilst we did that, we already had to consider what comes next, and next, and next …. When you have that strong face, you have to understand the implications if you want add functions later on, you have to consider that in the beginning, otherwise you will not have room for it .... I’m not saying they’re ready yet ....

.... For the same sort of money, you can get Saxonia Moon Phase for €2,500 more, or the Saxonia Outsize Date for €3,000 or €4,000 less. So it’s obviously not made to conquer the lower end of the market. It is just something that our customers have been wanting for a long time ....

.... There are watches for the safe, and there are watches that we wear – that means a certain comfort and user friendliness .... Everything has to be likeable, practical and robust. That’s why we moved away from balance cock to balance bridge, and that’s why we increased the balance frequency to 4Hz. We did that to gear up the watch for an environment different from that where you traditionally put a watch in precious metal with a leather strap ....

.... If it’s just beautiful we all know that longevity of sheer beauty is not long, so the watch needs to grow on people. It’s meant to be comfortable and good looking on the wrist. I am pretty convinced that people will like it. I’m also pretty convinced that some people will not like it ....

.... If somebody would accuse us of not sticking to our values, I would disagree. Everything, to the smallest detail, is very much what we do with our existing watches. The only thing we changed is the material. Logically, if you want to create a watch for a tougher environment, then it’s quite logical not to use precious metal. All the rest is Lange .... the only new road taken is that of the material ....

.... There is a “casualisation” of luxury products and I cannot ignore that .... there are casual watches even within our existing product portfolio, and always have been .... [the brand has slowly become a bit more contemporary] .... I wanted more Bauhaus and less baroque ....

[bubi]

Humm.... looks nothing like an SKX...

...
BUBI 0_0

[Rocket Man]

This the Watch Snob's take on the Odysseus:

https://uk.askmen.com/style/watches/...rts-watch.html

"The real problem is that it has emerged into a world where it is virtually impossible, especially for a company like Lange, to release a steel watch on a bracelet without it seeming to some degree, cynical and opportunistic."

"But to see so many companies nervously chasing a kind of watchmaking which historically they would have disdained to notice, is worrying."