Lange-Palooza 2021¶
Published on Mon, 19 Jul 2021 10:00:00 +0000
An interview with CEO Wilhelm Schmid and a chat about what makes Lange watches so special to wear.
Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinkee Radio is a special "Langapalooza" featuring two segments dedicated to A. Lange & Söhne. In the first segment, host Stephen Pulvirent conducts a virtual interview with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of Lange, discussing the brand's latest release: the Cabaret Tourbillon Handwerkskunst. This marks the return of the Cabaret collection after years of absence, limited to just 30 pieces featuring extraordinarily difficult decorative techniques including in-house enamel dials and intricate hand engraving. Wilhelm explains the brand's philosophy of deliberately making things difficult to showcase the highest levels of craftsmanship, and discusses how the company adapted during the pandemic while maintaining their commitment to traditional watchmaking values.
In the second segment, Jack Forster, Ben Clymer, and Logan Baker share personal stories about discovering and collecting Lange watches. They discuss the transformative experience of first encountering a Datograph and how its movement represents a paradigm shift in modern watchmaking that challenged even Patek Philippe. The conversation explores what makes Lange special: the three-dimensional architectural movements, the tactile pleasure of operating a rattrapante chronograph, and the brand's unique position as universally respected without being ostentatious. They emphasize how Lange movements can convert even non-collectors through their obvious beauty and craftsmanship, and praise the humanity of the company, particularly Wilhelm Schmidt's personal engagement with collectors. The episode concludes with reflections on why Lange represents one of the finest expressions of watchmaking today, comparing appreciation for these timepieces to admiring classic Ferraris or Leica cameras.
Links¶
Transcript¶
| Speaker | |
|---|---|
| Jack Forster | I've always had this theory that there's a kinesthetic satisfaction to owning and operating a high-end chronograph. You don't just appreciate it intellectually, you actually feel something physically when you interact with one of these things |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. This week we're doing a mini Longa Palooza. Uh we've got a two-segment episode here for you about all things a long and zona. So up first, I actually got to sit down and do a virtual interview with Mr. Wilhelm Schmidt, the CEO of Langa. Wilhelm is one of my favorite executive interviews in all of watchmaking. You get honest, no BS, insightful answers. He loves watchmaking, he loves the brand, and I always learn something from him. So we sit down to talk about the new cabaret tourbillon henwerkskunst, the other new novelties, what Longa's been doing during the pandemic, and a whole lot more, make sure you listen to the whole interview. Wilhelm gives a few sneak peeks at what might be coming from Longa over the next couple of months. After that, Ben, Jack, and Logan have a conversation about what it's like to actually own and wear a watch from A Long and Zona. These are such complicated, interesting, detail-oriented watches, and they're watches that it's hard to understand just from pictures on the internet or a few Instagram posts. So these three guys have varying levels of experience collecting, wearing, reviewing langas, and they offer some insights into what it's actually like to wear and own these pieces for a sustained period of time. So if you love Langa, if you want to know about the latest pieces or what it's like in the long run, this is an episode for you. So with that in mind, it's Langapalooza. Let's do this. Hey Bill Hum, good to see you. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Good Steve and good to see you. At least two dimensional. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah, exactly. I know. It'd be much nicer if we could uh be in Germany doing the usual celebration around this, but uh |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | you know, this is better than nothing. No, these da |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ys we'll come back for sure. Yeah. W |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ell, I'm gonna get right into it. There's there's some pretty exciting news from Lange and it's it's really nice to be able to have you on the show to kind of talk to us about it. So the big news this week is is the new cabaret turbine handwerkskunst. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Yes. The return of the cabaret |
| Stephen Pulvirent | for longtime langa fans. That's a big deal. Can you maybe before we get into this watch just give me some background on the cabaret for people who are new to Langa and may not even know what this watch is |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? Yeah. Lo lookok,, there's in the very beginning there were four watches. One was called the arcade, which you know was good of a shape, a case design which uh should remind people on certain windows or window shapes of the castle of Dresden. But that was not the final road into rectangular watches. That was actually done by the cabaret. And then the cabaret was one of our watch families, obviously a rectangular watch, which came in all sorts of iterations. And the absolute top of all these iterations was the launch of the cabaret Tourbillon in 2009, because that was actually at the time the first time that a watch came with a tourbillon that you can stop to adjust the time properly, which funny enough, nobody ever in the history since Briget invented the tourbillon has been thought about and whoever tried to adjust a Toby on watch to precise time knows that is quite a masterpiece to get it right because usually you lose anything up to a minute by adjusting the time because you can't stop the second hand. And this watch you could. Then, you know, it was a pure capacity decision to stop the line of the cavalry. You know, that's usually our biggest restriction. We have so many watchmakers that can work so many hours and that will give so many watches output a year. And then we eventually realize that if you become too diverse, you further impact efficiency, and that's why we stopped producing the cabaret. And the only exception is the cabaret Dobio Handbackskunst. You know, those that are familiar with the concept know that you know once in a while we come up with a watch in that line where we do everything we know if we talk about decoration and make our life incredibly difficult by giving it ankles that hardly can be polished and we manage to polish it or where we use enamel techniques that we usually don't apply. And Stephen qu,ite frankly on, purpose, the number of watches we produce is always pretty low because the amount of labor that goes into each and any of these watches is absurd. Specifically, if you take usually your best resources to work on it. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. And so I mean, with that in mind, there's there's only 30 of these being produced. It's the first time we've seen a cabaret in years. It's super limited at 30 pieces. And like you said, it's really kind of the best of what langa can be. I I wonder, can you walk us through a couple of the the kind of like features of this watch or the little flourishes of this watch that you think make it so special and really show off what Langa can do |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ? Absolutely. You know, there are first |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | the in-house-made enamel dials. And if, you know, there's probably nothing worse to do an enamel than a watch with a tourbillon cut because you know you very suddenly have tiny little bridges that you have to fill with enamel, with basically is glass, and you know, the slightest friction anywhere means and you don't have a dial anymore. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. So uh and people |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | underestimate um how easy that stuff is breaking specifically, if you create what you shouldn't create on enamel dials, you know, tiny little areas that you have to fill. And to make it even more complicated, the inner square is actually first engraved with a very specific engraving. And then we fill with a translucent enamel that inner square. So you have different shades of gray in this case, and you can see the engraving through the email. So the email. So that's that makes it even more difficult. And if you turn the watch around, you will see the same sort of I would call it art nouveau very geographic engraving where you typically see our floral engraving on the balance cock. Every decoration of that watch is different to the normal decoration. Everything is made to make the decorator's life incredibly difficult. And everything is made to make the watchmaker, the poor men or women that has to assemble the watch even more difficult because a tiny little crash is very unforgivable on these sort of watches. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. So that's why I say, you know, |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | everything is done to show what is possible, but probably not on a larger number of watches, not even for us. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah, one of the things I love about this watch, and and even going back to those early arcade watches is the the fact that you're always using shaped movements. Like these are never round movements or even square movements plonked into a different shaped case. And in this one, you have this sort of lozen shaped movement with the frosting on the on the three-quarter plate and even to see a three-quarter plate on a rectangular movement is really surprising. It's not something that people are used to seeing. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | No, it's it's a and again, you know, it is like always the DNA and and you know, wherever we can use a three quarter plate, even we call it differently on a on a rectangular watch, wherever we can do that, we try to do it. But again, that that's why the watch is so clear. And to be honest, Mr. Bloomlein's statement was you know, if you want to show clearly that you do your own movements, and now we talk about the 90s, where we still had to prove that, you have to come up with something which you can't buy from the market. And you could not buy three rectangular market uh movements from the market. So that was clearly a statement to see, to say we do our own movements |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah. It's really beautiful. And I think to me, the most interesting thing is that it it looks like a long movement, just with a slight twist. Like it doesn't feel like it's something that comes out of left field, which which I really like. And you know, having talked to to Jack and Ben about this, I know they're uh they're big fans as well. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Uh you have to see the watch in the flesh, to be honest. It's again, I believe the most difficult thing with the Huntwerks Kunst in general, is that even we use the best photographers, they're usually unable to really uh produce photos that give justice to the real beauty of the watch. You know, there's only one way you have to look at it, and that is you have to put it into your hand and around your wrist because that is really unveiling the total beauty. Um, yeah, and you know, the finer the subtle differences are, the more important is that last step. And that's why I believe it's so high time that we get back to some normal life, because with all digital content, this last experience is a very physical one. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. No, no, I know. And it's it's I mean, typically historically for people who may not know, when the Handrix Kunstwatches are released, there's usually a big press and collector event either in Germany or Italy or New York or somewhere. And y |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | es, we all get to get together and it's it's |
| Stephen Pulvirent | a big unveiling. And it's it's why I was honestly so so shocked and and surprised when I saw that this was being released this way. And I mean it's it's a necessity right now, but it's you know these are normally watches that uh there's quite a bit of fanfare around because they take they take what years to develop, no |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? Absolutely. And uh rest assured we, will send watches around the world to non-sellable watches, of course, uh, so to have it for photo shoots and all that. And I know already quite a few collectors are waiting for it because the rumor is out somehow, like always. And probably when people can't meet personally, rumors even travel quicker than before. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | I think so. The rumor is out |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | and I know that a few collectors already raised their hand and say regardless of what it is, I want one. And um yeah, well, now work on it. That's the best part of uh the corona crisis and how we dealt with it. We learned a lot about capacity that we had in-house that we did not explore to the full extent before. |
| Jack Forster | Yeah, and we're sure some decor |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ations that you will see on that watch and the the the art to deal with engraving and enameling. These are typical things that where you need a bit of time, which we had, of course, during uh the first couple of months of last year |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Yeah. I I w |
| Stephen Pulvirent | onder, you know, obviously we'll set this one aside since it's brand new, but of the other Hanwerks Kunst models, do you do you have a personal favorite from the previous editions |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? Funny enough, I do have, and I tell you why. Um I loved the Zeitwerk Handwerkskunst because it it has one thing that I thought is brilliant, which turned out to be an absolute nightmare. And that's why, probably, with the exception of the grand complication, we'll never do it again. That golden glasshütter escapement, you know, where we replace the normal material by gold, |
| Stephen Pulvirent | yeah, and it's a nightmare |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | uh to adjust, but you know, simply for that story, because it just tells you we make our life on purpose difficult to ensure that uh you know everybody knows why there are only so few. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Right. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think my personal favorite, which is just ahead of the Zeitberg |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | , yes, is the uh Langa One Tur |
| Stephen Pulvirent | bion with the black enamel dial. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Would have been my second one to be honest |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . I remember seeing that watch and just my jaw hit the floor. Yeah, you know, if you see to your point, you see press pictures of it, and it looks like a shiny black dial. Like it's it's okay, it's a black dial turbine. In person, it's anything but it's it's really just a shockingly beautiful, subtle piece of watchmaking. Ye |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ah, and I think it's a piece of watchmaking that it |
| Stephen Pulvirent | takes it takes real guts to kind of put out there as as a high end kind of halo piece. And I love when Langa does things like that. I think it's it's something that only you guys can really do at that level. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Would have been my second choice, Steven. So I just, you know, buy by a little bit. But it's these black dials. You know, black and white are probably the most difficult enamel dials that you can produce because they are completely unforgiving. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Sure. A little flaw, a little |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | wrong color into it, and you can just throw it away. You can't repair it. |
| Jack Forster | Yeah. And again, if you then st |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | art cutting into the enamel dials |
| Stephen Pulvirent | , that's where it gets really diffic |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ult. Uh and and and and that's why we do it probably. Ex |
| Stephen Pulvirent | actly. If it was easy it wouldn't be any fun, right |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? We at least wouldn't call it handwax kunst. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Right, exactly. Uh well I have to I have to ask the obvious question before we talk about some of the other other novelties and some other things, but um are we gonna be seeing the return of the cabaret more generally? Is that something that people can look forward to? |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | No. Okay. No |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | . No. I never say never and forever, but you know, it's it's uh we're so busy by just fulfilling the promises that we already gave that we do not want to complicate our life even further by launching a seventh watch family. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Sure. At the moment, it |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | really doesn't matter which family we talk about, we are running behind demand |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. That makes that makes sense. And speaking of those other watch families, I mean we the the Hanswerkskunst is is obviously the kind of star of this week, but there there are two other, I guess three other technically new releases. There's a longematic perpetual, which is a limited edition anniversary piece in two different colors, you know, red gold or white gold, uh, with a blue dial. And then there's the Saxonia thin in pink gold with that blue gold flux kind of a venturine style dial. And both of these watches, the the Langomatic Perpetual and then the Saxonia Thin are, you know, they're real Langa classics. Like these are tried and true Longa watches. And I wonder how you think about evolving those pieces, bringing new things to the table while still kind of respecting the things about these watches that everybody loves |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Well specifically the Lang |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | omatic, I mean it's not 20 years. There aren't that many watches on the market which basically in dimension and formal layout unchanged. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. So we just use different |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | case materials and different colors. And to be honest, everybody said the last uh of this watch is the honey gold version that we launched about a year and a half, two years ago. And then we thought this time we catch them all on surprise and we come with two more iterations. It is just a beautiful watch and we only have now the gladly the Lange One perpetual calendar as a standalone perpetual calendar. And that's why we launched these two watches limited and in a very beautiful and and specially decorated dark blue dial, just you know to show what we can do just by changing uh a dial in a case material. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah, and I mean the the dark blue on these is it's an even blue color, let's say, whereas the Saxonia Thin has this really sparkly, vivid gold flux. Yeah. That's that's become an interesting material for for Longa. This is now what the second or third time you've you've used it |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? Absolutely. And I admit I was not a big fan in the beginning. It was one of these moments where I was overruled by Tony De Haas and Tino Boba. And they were right and I was wrong. I openly admit that. It is just an unbelievable watch that you can't put agenda to it. For sure it's probably and I think I quote somebody you know, uh, if I say it's the ultimate tuxedo watch. |
| Jack Forster | Um fair. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | It's a pretty brilliant guy who said that, I think. I think that's a that's a smart guy |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | I know him well and for long no uh |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | and I think that that that that probably |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | is it you know if if you wear something like a tuxedo or uh you know you go to a very formal that's probably the the ultimate watch to wear on on these occasions. Ever since we launched it, we we just see that people love it. The Lange One, the little Lange One moon phase that we launched in in in in April. You know, the demand is just unbelievably high. And again, that dial, unfortunately, we had to learn why um the dials that are made one of one piece are a lot easier than a lot of cuts and the so you know I think we produced quite some expensive glass rubbish and lack of a better word in the production of that. We know now how to deal with it, but |
| Stephen Pulvirent | yeah, Jesus, we paid quite |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | a bit of money for that learning lesson |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah, of course. I mean, what one of the things I love about this watch is just how simple it is. And it's it's this edition and all of the Saxonia thin. And you know, it's a round watch. It has two hands. It comes on a leather strap. It has baton markers. I mean, like it's almost as simple as a wristwatch can be, but I still think it feels very longa. I mean, to what we talked about earlier with the cabaret, like these, this watch still feels just as Longa as the Longa One, or as an 1815, or as a Longa Matic Perpetual. And I I wonder how you think about the kind of like core essence of the brand and how it's expressed in a piece like this versus something like a long and one let's |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | say I you know |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | again I believe the designer's nightmare is to represent what a brand stands for if you only have two hands to play with. You know, because if you have a hugely complicated watch and and and and you have lots of details that you can play with, that's also difficult, but at least there's a lot of room to maneuver. There's very little room to maneuver with two hands. However, you will recognize when we change the size of the case, we don't use the same hands, we don't use the same indices. Everything is changing accordingly, and that's what people see and recognize. And that's why whether it's 37 or 40 millimeter, this watch always looks like it has to be an Alanger and Söner because these little design details are acknowledged and executed. I'll never forget as we launched the uh datograph up and down in 2012. And Tony said to me we have to increase the outsize date by four percent because the uh case dimension have been increased by four percent. So and that's that's the thinking behind it, I believe. We don't accept shortcuts if we talk about that. So if we have to produce new hands, we produce new hands. Yeah. Uh we would not just take others because we believe nobody will recognize it because we know that our customers and clients would recognize it. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah, I mean that's an interesting conundrum, right? Like at the end, you you you wanna produce the best watch and you wanna produce it obviously at the the fairest price but also like you you have some of the most demanding clients and collectors out there and you you kind of whether it's a two-hand dress watch or whether it's a cabaret tourbillon, like you you have to deliver each and every time because you can't sneak anything by your client. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | No. Uh it's and and and and that's what again, I'm now more than 10 years running it, and that's what I had to learn from the beginning. You know, Alange and Zune has a lot of custodians, and our clients are more custodians than probably anything else. And if they would see that we do shortcuts, uh make our life too easy, become too complacent. They're also quite vocal. So we would know. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah, we definitely, definitely would. I I can't imagine you wouldn't. We've kind of touched on it a little bit here and there, but obviously the last 18 months have been difficult for everyone in in varying degrees and in varying ways. But I wonder what you think you've learned personally and then what you know maybe Langa as a as a brand and as a team has learned over the last 18 months. Has has any have any good lessons come out of this for you and anything that maybe you can take take forward to to run a better business, make better watches, you know, have happier clients, all of those things |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | . We learned what we do not want to change, and we are so also accepted where we have to adapt and change. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Okay. If if if if I can |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | put it as simple as this, that doesn't sound a lot, but for a very conservative company as we are, that's a huge milestone. And we decided that the way we we design our watches, we build our watches, from double assembly to you know the subtle differences. This is something that we do not want to change. We do not want to change that all watches are built, designed, produced by hands, and real human beings and not robotics. We decided that even we could go down the road of um materials that can make our life a little easier that we don't, because that's not why people buy us, want us, and like us. So that whole field we identified as we do not change. As a matter of fact, you know, you remember the dial of the Turbo Graph polymerit, the honey gold. Yeah. And we learned how to produce these dials because there was the supply chain was broken, the the usual manufacturer were closed, so we had to do it ourselves. So we use that time to learn a lot. On the other hand, we had to say goodbye to stay too close to our customers because the last 18 months just didn't allow that. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. So how do you create pro |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ximity without events, without physical touch points and in boutiques, IDs? So we went a lot more digital than I would have thought. So and gladly not only have we changed, but also our clients have changed |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . And they're pretty aware of we |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | can't meet personally, so that's the next best thing. But Stephen, I'm so curious to see whether that last meter is not coming back once we can meet all in person again. I think the lot is going to stay, but I can't believe that that last magic moment where here is my heart-earned money, and you get that watch, that object of desire, and you touch it, and you feel the weight, and you put it around your wrist, and you see how it suits you as a person, I can't believe that |
| Stephen Pulvirent | yeah this is gone forever. I |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | have to hope that it's coming back |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . I mean I think when it's safe to do so again I think people will be very excited to do that. And I think, especially for a high touch, high personalization kind of brand like Langa, |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | like it only makes sense. And |
| Stephen Pulvirent | I think it's something that you all clearly have valued for a long time. And so I I I think for some brands it might not come back. I I would agree with you. I think it would be shocking to me if if for you and your team that didn't didn't come back |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | . We will work on everything. I I'm sure as I said, all these digital steps that we implemented they are here to stay. You know, that's just another facet that that we will have to to work with in a typical uh langer way but my my my heart hopes for you know this magic moment coming back rather sooner than later. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah I agree. Well, with with that in mind, before I let you go, just on a personal note, when it's safe and things are open again, where's the first place you can't wait to travel |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ? New York. I'd love |
| Stephen Pulvirent | to hear that. I love to hear that. I |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | 'm not joking. New York is |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | definitely New York and then Singapore because I have a brand manager there that I have never seen in person. Where we have a boutique open that I've never visited in person. I will not, I promise myself to not travel again as much as I did before that crisis hit us. And I'm and I swear to God, I learned to appreciate to stay in my own bed. I've never had that privilege before. Um and I will not even I' |
| Stephen Pulvirent | m right there with you. Woof. I'm right there with you |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | . So there are things that I'm gonna do again, but not to the extent I used to do, but definitely I can't wait getting back to New York |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Amazing. Well, hopefully I'll see you very soon in in either New York or California or maybe in Germany or Singapore. W |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ho knows? We know. Thank |
| Stephen Pulvirent | you so much for doing this. Uh congratulations on the launches and uh hope to hope to catch up in person soon |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | . Fantastic. Stay healthy, stay safe, enjoy life and uh we stay in touch. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Thank you, you too, my friend. Take care. W |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | onderful. Bye bye. Chao ciao bye bye |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Up next, Jack, Ben, and Logan talk about what it's like to actually own and wear a Langa |
| Jack Forster | . Hi everybody. Jack Forster, editor-in-chief at Hodiki.com and, today I am uh sitting here with Ben Klymer and Logan Baker, and uh we're talking monazona. And uh what we are going to talk about, I think, is uh how we first encountered the brand. And I think for each of us, it holds a really, really special place in our heart. And for very, very personal reasons. And I think what we'd like to start out with is just like, how did you first encounter the brand? Because I think the first time you see a long a watch or the first time you hold a long watch, it's kind of a transformative experience. It was for me. And I'd love to hear uh Logan and Ben what you guys felt the first time you saw Laga and how it happened. |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Logan do you wanna take it away? Absolutely |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . So it's I'm I'm gonna |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | kinda embarrass myself with this story here, but uh you know, I think it's it's a good one. When I first entered the the watch industry, I was was this you know 2014, 2015. I was uh 19 years old and um you |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | know I didn't really know a thing about watches |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . I was, you know, kind of excited to enter the world of journalism and media. I was a student at NYU and I ended up at a watch publication that is no longer really around. And I remember in those early days of kind of going through press releases and everything, uh, a lot of the brands started to uh kind of blend in together. But there were certain ones that uh, you know, the names were different that just kind of stuck out to me. And um, you know, I think part of it was I didn't know how to pronounce these these these names. So it's like, you know, Gigère Le Colte. Uh I thought it was Jaeger Le Coltre uh for the longest time, which I think uh is probably a common mistake people make in their introductory in the in their first few months. You know |
| Jack Forster | , look, and I think that's absolutely marvelous because uh I had the same experience when I started out. I was like, okay, here's the brands I can pronounce. And here's the ones I'm pretty sure I'm pronouncing. Yeah. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | So Rolex Omega, we got that. Oh |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | yeah. Yep. Time X. Time X. |
| Jack Forster | Tag Hooy. Tag Hoyer. Is |
| Stephen Pulvirent | that how you say that? Higher? |
| Jack Forster | Hublot. Right? Hublock? Yeah. Hu |
| Stephen Pulvirent | blot. Exactly. Hublot. Yeah, but there |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | were there were tough ones like Jacques Dreau uh and then Long and Zunna, which you know it kind of it's it's a longer name than than most watch brands. And you know, I I was a 19-year-old kid from uh Houston, Texas, you know, never been to Germany. I have no idea what Anzana means, but it it kind of sits there and it kind of lingered in my head for a little bit. And uh I remember just kind of bookmarking it and and uh even though I didn't really you, know, I didn't know what made the brand special, it just had that kind of air to it where I wanted to revisit it and kind of spend more time learning what made it what it was. And you know, six, seven years later, I'm I'm still learning, but like I I've learned I've I've figured out what makes the brand uh so special. And um I can't remember my first time going hands on with a watch, but you know, I I definitely cherish every moment that I I can spend with one. I think that answers the question. W |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ell, yeah, my first experience, really real exper |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ience with the brand was at an antiquorum |
| Stephen Pulvirent | auction house in probably 2009 or so. Um I was there with |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | uh somebody named William Messina, who I think some of you guys have met. Never |
| Jack Forster | heard the name. And uh and you know it was |
| Stephen Pulvirent | one of those things where like back |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | then Longa was even more of a cult thing than it |
| Stephen Pulvirent | is now. And it's still a cult brand. And I think we |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | all love it that way. But back then, I mean it was really, really under the radar. Uh watches in general were really under the radar. Certainly like you know, real high-end watch making. And we were at the sale and, there was William, I believe, was wearing a 5070 J, which he's had for a long time, which is protects to register chronograph of the time. And it those in his talking watches, I believe. And you know, he's like, uh as there was some kind of like dismissive remark made by somebody about Langa, blah, blah blah. And even though he was wearing the Patek, he took off the watch and said, Hey person, check out my Patek, and then pick up that datagraph over there in the in the case that was being auctioned off at Anticorum and just flip them both over and and and take a look and the person flipped them over and you know everything changed and everything changed for me as well up till that point i think you know patek bashron ap but really patek, where it was kind of like univers, or was really solely, you know, kind of like at the peak of high-end watchmaking, at least in my mind, because what the hell did I know in 2009? And that was when things started to change, and I started to realize just kind of how special one it was. And the first time you see a data graph, as you guys mentioned, like your whole kind of world explodes. If you care about you know real watchmaking. And you know that that watch sold and it sold for roughly the same price as the 5070. Both were below retail at the time |
| Stephen Pulvirent | and I said wow man like this is this is |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | kind of wild like this feels like such a hidden gem and then you know then I started to research on time zone mostly a little bit on the purest about Guncha Bloom line and what really what Langa was and then the whole history of how the data graph came out, you know, around the same time as the 50-70 and Philippe Stern went to go over and look at the the model, you know, the oversized model of the data graph movement and how that really kind of changed things. And I really just started to kind of fall in love, but it was really the datagraph that that kind of exposed me to Langa. I still had my reservations and my reservations with Longa lasted for a little while. And then mostly came down to the fact that the watch that I would see the most was a datagraph or a variation of the data graph. Sometimes actually we had a Jack and I both had a friend that had a turbo graph, which is kind of the big Mac Daddy data graph with what is it, split second perpetual turbine, blah blah blah, which is just an enormous watch. I mean it's just it it''ss like like you know a triple cheeseburger kind of watch and so you know the exposure to me and long early on was datagraph based and it's like these are just too thick for me and i was even more kind of conscious of thickness of watches back then than i am now. And then I found the 1815 chronograph, which as we all know, is a basically the datagraph without the date. And in white gold instead of platinum. So all of a sudden it's thinner, less heavy, less expensive. And that's kind of when I really fell in love and uh and kind of the rest's history, and now Longa remains, you know, to me, you know, I think they're the best uh serially made wash in the world. |
| Jack Forster | And uh the 1815 still has that weird, you know, sort of uh lowered subdial configuration, but uh there's something super attractive about just the chronograph components from the datagraph, but without the big date |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Yep. Look, I mean I think that the data graph is the icon, and I think we've actually already really started to see like those watches, the early ones, uh, you know, the yellow jackets, even the deforographs, really started to pick up steam in terms of value and appreciation from collectors. And I think, you know, if anybody is is listening out there, which I hope at least a few of you are, like you we see what's happening with Jorne now, right? And like the early Jornes, which were selling for pennies on the dollars as recently as 18 months ago are now selling for gazillions. How can a longa or an early Langa not follow suit. How can the closed back Langa ones, for example, or the steel washes, which I've been lucky enough to own in the past, or you know, the really special data graphs from early on, how are those not experiencing the same bump that the the Jorns are? And certainly the early Pateks and the early Royal Oaks and all that, like this to me, like that that is that's the future or it is a future of of collectible washes, definitely |
| Jack Forster | . So a question for both of you guys, I mean Ben, for instance, you have famously in a in a number of articles that you've published on Hodiki said, look, movements are important, but they're not the only thing that's important about a watch. Ab |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | solutely. If you're evaluating, if you're evaluat |
| Jack Forster | ing a watch, you know, and it's a matter of personal taste to a certain extent. You might be a movement geek, you might not care about them at all. But uh what is it about looking at the movement of and yeah, and you know, I think the three of us have all had that moment where we that we remember where we look at a datagraph movement for the first time and we're like, holy smokes |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Yeah. You know. Yeah. If |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | you ever want to convince somebody that watches are special, |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | the mechanical watch movement is a special field, the best way to do it is showing a data graph. You know, I mean much more so than really any Patek, any almost even any other Langa, uh, you know, that that movement is so archite |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ctural and so three dimensional, almost to a fa |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ult, you know, which makes it a little bit thicker than than others. It was designed to be admired. Whereas, you know, the Lemanias that were in these Petec 50, 70s, 59, 70s, whatever, they they were meant to be appreciated by their owners and by their watchmakers, but they weren't meant to, you know, to to to like inspire voyeurism you know what i mean like a data graph like it it's there to encourage people to gaze at it right and and th those things that that's what makes that watch in particular so special and then once you realize that okay like Long is making the best chronograph, I think, uh, you know, up to a certain price point. And you know, when we did our very first video with uh that guy in La Sentier, what's his name? Uh oh, Dufour. That guy. Uh you know, he said on camera, uh he said on camera, I think you know, who's making the best chronograph? Uh Landa they're German. You know, he says that in our video that we produced in 2013 or 14. I don't think that's changed. You know, and when you look at the chronograph, which is my favorite complication, I think many people's favorite complication, and they're making the best, I think that it's it's it's easy to get to fall into Longa only makes chronographs. And then you start to appreciate the Longa one. The Longa One was the the watch from them that I came into last. And now to me that is what Longa is all about |
| Jack Forster | . Ben, I want to kind of highlight something |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | that you started to say at the beginning there that I think is really inter |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | esting and maybe Jack can help expand on it a little |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | bit. But back in you know the the late 90s, early 2000s, mid-2000s, there were some doubts about longa as from from serious collectors, not doubts about the quality, but doubts might not be the the right word, but it wasn't appreciated to the same degree as say your paddocks or your Vachyrons, uh, because it was the new kid on the block, because they were doing things a little differently, because the the approach to finishing was different than your traditional kind of Swiss, um, you know, very Geneva centered watchmaking and and the the aesthetics, the dials, the cases, it was all slightly different. And I don't know, I'm I'm curious if maybe you guys think that's accurate or maybe you could expand on that kind of early feeling and and how that sentiment has changed over time. Yeah, I mean I'll I'll let |
| Jack Forster | Jack kind of really go into it because he was probably a little bit more aw |
| Stephen Pulvirent | are of it than I was just 'cause I don't know if he knows, but Jack is older than I am. So he he's he's been far wiser. Uh well I mean look it's it's the same thing when you look at like a a uh a |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | German car, let's say a Porsche, you know, which is amazing, and then you look at a a Ferrari, like two different ways to make a sports car. Both of them are wonderful. One of them is far more romantic. You could argue far more beautiful in the traditional sense than than the other. And it's usually you know the Italian versus the German. And similarly, you know, you have Swiss Genevan watchmaking, which is really romantic, you know, very, very conservative ultimately. And then you have German watchmaking, which is just different. And I think that that is what makes them special. I think you know, Langa could certainly make uh a 5170 as as well as Pateka, but they they want to be different. But you know, Jack, I I defer to you as as the gentleman who was around in those days. |
| Jack Forster | Oh gosh, I mean uh the datagraph was a game changer. I remember before Gunter Bloomline passed away, people so this is uh you know, to your point, Ben people, asked him, are you are you going after paddock fully? Are you trying, you know, this was a an explicit question a little watch journalists asked uh Mr. Bloomline, and he said, you know, I like to think of uh Lange and Paddock as two strong knights on good horses who are competing for the favors of the same princess. And uh I can't imagine anyone saying something like that today, but it actually didn't feel like a disingenuous thing to say in like the late 1990s. And I think that it's still, I mean, in a cheesy sort of way, I think it's still a fair comparison. You know, the data graph for a lot of us, it just it came out of nowhere. Nobody was expecting it nobody was expecting this absolutely flawlessly beautifully designed wonderfully finished classic you know lateral clutch column wheel controlled chronograph to come out of glaciuta to come from you know we all had high expectations of Lamanzona at that point but that was that was that was really a game changer it was uh it was shots fired you know what it reminds me of you know to bring back another sort of blast from the past. I don't suppose you guys remember when the Russians introduced the MiG-25 Foxbet, but it was kind of so the Foxbet was the uh the Russian Air Force's response to the SR-71 Blackbird and uh nobody was expecting it. It was a fighter that uh appeared in the skies in the 1980s that was traveling at you know Mach III and like nothing could catch it and no one saw it coming. And it changed the way that aircraft design, military aircraft design evolved permanently, and is still affecting the way military aircraft are designed today. And I feel like the um, well, first of all, I feel like I've uh reached for a metaphor that Cole Pennington and nobody else is going to uh relate to. Shout |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | out to Cole Pennington, Chili P in the house. |
| Jack Forster | Iceman. Uh but it was kind of the same thing. Like you every once in a while something happens that really is a paradigm changer, and I that to me that's what the datagraph was. And the first time that I actually had a chance to see one in person, and I was lucky enough to wear one for a couple of years on loan from Long and Zona, I just never got tired of looking at it, and it never looked like anything else. It never felt like anything else. And it never stopped feeling special. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | Yeah. And I I think, you know, we've talked about this a lot, but it it kind of bears repeating here that like pre-datagraph, there was really no such thing as an in-house high-end movement, right? Like e vouches were were were taken and they were modified to be high-end from Lumania, from you know whoever FPGA |
| Jack Forster | . And then the data graph comes around and |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | now all of a sudden, I mean, I can't I think within the past two weeks, I think Cole or somebody said, you know, I can't believe it took AP to make their own in-house chronograph this long. Go back twenty-five years, nobody had an in-house chronograph. |
| Jack Forster | Nobody cared. Right, and nobody cared. And then Longa |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | said, wait a minute, like we're gonna do this not because everybody else is doing it, because we believe in quality of this, this, this kind of uh this greatness. And now everyone has to have it. They they literally changed the stakes by which watchmaking are measured. And like the goalpost moved the day that the datagraph came out for Pat Tech, even for Vachron, for AP, for everybody. |
| Jack Forster | Yeah, I always sort of felt like there were a few boardrooms in Switzerland when the datagraph came out uh that were not long-in-zona uh boardrooms where people were sitting down and saying, okay, what are we going to do about this? |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | Yeah, no, no question. I mean, I'm I'm sure |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | there were several of those conversations. And |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | even to this day, you know, if you look at what Longa does with their Sax |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | onia stuff and the Slim stuff, you know, the things that's like let's say like $22,000 |
| Stephen Pulvirent | and below, of which there are a few |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | , that the quality in those watches is |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | extraordinary. And I think up until very rec |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ently, basically up until the this latest year's release from Patek, it really blew the Calatrava out of the water. And this isn't me criticizing Patek. I love Patek. It's just the it's just the truth. You know, if you looked at the entry-level watch from both those brands side by side from a watchmaking perspective, they were not comparable, like objectively not comparable. It wasn't fair to Patek, honestly. Uh now with the new movement and what Patek has done this year, it it''ss a little bit more of a level playing field, but Langa has always been this way. They've always gone above and beyond. |
| Jack Forster | Yeah, I'm actually a little bit of a digression, but I really do hope we can get some more communication from uh from paddock about that movement because it looks super super interesting it |
| Stephen Pulvirent | looks beautiful and i want to turn it over to log |
| Jack Forster | an a little bit now um ben and i have both got a lot of history with the datagraph with the 1815 uh but you just did a week on the wrist with the 1815 Ratrofonh. U the first, and this is like an extremely special watch for anyone who's interested in fine watchmaking and also for anyone who's interested in long and zona, because this is the first time they've ever done a watch that is just a rocher punt without any other complications |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ? Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, that was a really fun piece to uh work on and write. And it was the first time that I had kind of spent an extended period with a longa watch, you know, kind of day after day instead of seeing a number of watches during a press appointment or in the office or something like that. And really living with a longa watch, especially along a chronograph, going back to what you guys were saying about the data graph, you you |
| Stephen Pulvirent | you really can't |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | not become absorbed with looking at the movement. I mean, you know, I when I received the wat |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ch, you know, I I the first like two ho |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | urs, I would say, I was just like, you know, I was looking at it with a loop, just examining it, just examining all the the finishing details, all the, you know, the hand engraved balance cock, how the uh rocher pont mechanism worked. And you know, I really felt this kind of engagement with the watch that you know you you feel with when you when a watch is yours, but you you don't always feel with you know, a watch when you first see it. And after kind of sitting there for for a relatively short period of time, I really felt like I had a connection with this watch. And that's that's special. And I think it's something that makes Longa different because you can really insert yourself into that role just by just by looking at the movement and and kind of digging into it with a with a loop and appreciating how everything kind of works together in harmony. Because so often things are hidden behind, you know, maybe a rotor or a um plate or bridges. And you know, here everything is on display. And like Ben said, it's almost kind of voyeuristic because you're you're able to really kind of feel what makes this watch run, you know, uh as as you wind it, as you kind of exist with it. Like that's that's that's special. And that's as much as we can romanticize and, you know, love every single watch. Like that's just something you don't get with a, you know, uh $500 tool watch with closed case back. You know, that can be the watch you wear every day and you love and you adore, and you know, I'm never going to take that away from anybody, but it's it's a really different experience to kind of almost take yourself out of where you are and then then put yourself inside the the watch. And I think Longa kind of gives you that platform to dive in more so than than other brands. And that's one thing that I really started to appreciate. But another thing is this was also my first time kind of spending an extended period with uh Raj chronograph. And you know, like I've They're fun, ar |
| Jack Forster | en't they? They're very fun. They're actually a lot of fun. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | And um you know, I what I kind of discovered one, I really dove off to deep end in uh digging into how split seconds mechanisms work, how uh they really differ from another, and something I'm kind of working on the background, which I teased in my week on the wrist is uh deeper dive into split seconds mechanisms at uh long and zona which uh i think my deadline is at the end of this month so stay tuned for that but you know i was able to talk with uh tony de haas who um is shoot uh is the technical product director at Long and Zenna |
| Jack Forster | ? We actually just kind of call him that guy. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | Yeah, he he we just call him the movement guy. He's the movement guy, you know, uh which is a pretty, pretty awesome title. He |
| Jack Forster | 's also been with a company for |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | he's that guy. That's a pretty special title when it comes to Longman Zena. And I was able to speak with him and he really kind of helped guide me into what makes the 1850 retropond different. You know, I it it doesn't have an isolating mechanism like uh you would see uh among you know some other high-end roche pront chronographs you know today and i'll go into kind of the reasons why that wasn't there in the story that i'm working on. Something else that i found that was interesting is it doesn't have the spring levers that would normally cause the ropant clamps to snap down on the split seconds wheel. Instead, it has kind of a spring-driven pivot underneath a bridge that causes the clamps to snap down, which is really interesting and different than what you would typically see. Just to kind of |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | finish there, I think what makes Ratropont |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | s different is compared to a Torbion where things are so kinetic and visual. You know, a ropont is really tactile in in a way that is unlike any other complication. And you're really kind of owning time in a way. You know, you're stopping and starting and uh resetting and kind of taking ownership of this interval of time that even with a normal chronograph you don't really have. And that's that's a really unique experience. |
| Jack Forster | There's a physical pleasure to owning and operating a high-end chronograph that you don't get from any other complication. And before we go, I've always had this theory that there's a kinesthetic satisfaction to a really well-made watch movement, a movement like the datagraph, you don't just appreciate it intellectually, you actually feel something physically like there's something gen, there's something actually physically pleasurable that is mirrored in your own body when you interact with one of these things. And it partly has to do with the the beauty of execution. I mean we don't make we're not in the beautiful machines business, humanity, no, pretty much anymore. And uh something like the data graph of the 1815, you know, these represent a commitment to creating something that is seamlessly beautiful, both mechanically and from an engineering standpoint and aesthetically and like there that stuff's just not out there. And um I wanted to kind of like draw you both out a little bit in the little bit of time we have left on uh you know sort of like what's that like? You know, we we don't talk it's a it it's something we don't talk about all that much. Uh Robert Parker many years ago said that one of the things that uh wine critics never write about is the fact that wine makes you drunk. You know, it's like it's it's it's intoxicating to experience good wine. And the experience of being intoxicated by a good wine is different depending on the wine. And the experience of being physically intoxicated by a high-end movement, it's like it's different for a paddock. It's different from a langa, you know, it's different from a Vashura |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . It it is. And, you know, I'll |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | , you know, speak from the vantage point of being lucky enough to say I am a langa owner. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | And wearing a langa in |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | a room full of collec |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | tors or of novic |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | es or somewhere in between, it it hits different, you know, and it's like you can enter a red bar meetup where, you know, the the average price point |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | , who knows? You know, you've got guys there with |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | crazy stuff, you've got guys there in G Sho |
| Stephen Pulvirent | cks. Everyone hold |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | s Longa in such high regard that you could be wearing the grand complication, which was that crazy $2.6 milli |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | on dollar watch they made years ago, or a turbo graph, or this rocher pond. And |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | people would just want to talk to you about the watch. That's |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | and that's it. And that is so charming and |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | so wonderful. And it makes you feel good. And it makes |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | like you feel like you spent your money in |
| Stephen Pulvirent | the right way. Meanwhile, if |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | you show up to let's say a red bar event or a |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | hardie event or anything with the you know a cross section of watch lovers and you're wearing a |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | pitech, a royal oak |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | , a rubber shirt mule, which I've I've never done, but I can imagine. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | And half the conversation is simil |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ar to the longa one, which is like, hey, let's talk about the watch. And the other half is, man, like you spent that much money on a watch? Like that's that |
| Stephen Pulvirent | 's kind of kind of gross or kind of crazy |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | , you know, if you if you if you bring in big boy into the room |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . And you know, Langa, for whatever |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | reason, gets a pass from everyone because it is |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | universally respected and held in high regard. It is not showy at at all all., |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | I mean, even if you're wearing a $100,000 watch, which that |
| Stephen Pulvirent | that split second at Logan Review it is, |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | you know, it really just it it mak |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | es you feel like, as I said, like you spent your money in |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | the right way for the right reas |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ons, as opposed to other high-end watches, which are simil |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | arly excellent in construction. The |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | y they sometimes kind of make you feel like a little fo |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | olish, like you spent how much money on this |
| Stephen Pulvirent | thing? Uh, and maybe if you don't feel that |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | way, maybe other people feel that way about you. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | But I can assure you that any langa, |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | you know, is held in the highest esteem of anybody in the room. And when you go outside the red bar meetup and you go to dinner at the Korean |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | place, the Korean barbecue place across the road or whatever, you can wear |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | that hundred thousand dollar watch and nobody thinks anything of it. And I think that's the other side |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | of Longa, which is still extremely |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | charming. That like this is not a high luxury brand. This is not like wearing a logo |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | Louis Vuitton jacket or carrying a |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | Louis Vuitton purse. Nobody knows what this stuff is. They could look at the dial |
| Stephen Pulvirent | and they would have no idea what it is. And that is a is a really charming aspect of learning |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | And you know the funny thing is you |
| Jack Forster | , you know, you're so you're at dinner at the Korean barbecue, and uh if you if you turn the watch over and show the movement to someone who's never seen a high-end watch movement before, they're going to respond emotionally. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | They will which is wonder |
| Jack Forster | ful. They'll understand it. They |
| Stephen Pulvirent | 'll understand it. And again, I I said it earlier |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | and I think you're kind of hinting at it now, but like the |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | best way to make yourself fe |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | el better with all your your normal friends about your watch obsession is to show them a data graph or show them along longer a movement |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . They're like, oh, okay, I I get that. I get that. Yeah. |
| Jack Forster | Yeah. It's uh that's one of the things that um well, I mean, I think we all love about long and sauna. It is like one of the very, very few not like not only luxury watch companies, but luxury companies left that couldn't possibly give a shit about a flex |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Correct. Correct. And we love 'em for it. One other thing that I wanted to highlight real |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | quick before we wrap up is kind |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | of the people behind Long and Zona as well. The the the humanity of the company is still really readily apparent. And I that's not always the case with some of the the high-end watchmakers that we we work with. You know, I I I want to tell a quick story of few years ago, I was um, you know, I visited Longenzana in Glashut with a uh group of watch collectors. You know, there's about 10 to 15 different collectors of varying, you know, uh they collected at different price levels. And uh the CEO, Wilhelm Schmidt, he he met us there. You know, there wasn't a representative of the brand, there wasn't a PR or a marketing person as fantastic as they are. You know, the CEO of the company sat there and talked with our group of American collectors, Amer |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | ican and Canadian collectors, for |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | 45 or so minutes. And then that evening, he came into to Dresden and he he sat there and had dinner with us for for three hours. And this is a group of, you know, they no one bought a longa that trip. Like there wasn't an expectation that he was entertaining clients that were gonna drop six figures. He he was there because he was representing the brand. He was answering people's questions. He was really creating this this identity that those collectors are gonna carry with them, that I mean I'm gonna carry with myself. And that's a really, really wonderful thing. It's it's warm and inviting. And these these beautiful machines, you know, don't have to be that way. It's the people that make them like that. And that's that's really special. And I think part of that is you know, Walter Longa was there when the brand was resurrected, when it came back, and and he kind of helped add that that layer of humanity to it, you know. He he went through losing his family company for 40, 50 years. And uh when he was able to bring it back, you know, he wanted the Longa name to remain there. And 30 years, 20 years, 25 years later, you know, it's it's it's there and such an important part. While some other companies that have been around for centuries, you know, they're there some of that humanity has decreased to an extent. And with long, it's there. And I I I think that's a really wonderful thing |
| Jack Forster | . I I've had an opportunity to spend some time with Wilhelm over the years. I think my favorite Wilhelm Schmidt story though is uh I ran into him at a car show about eight years ago and uh he recognized me and came over and he said, Who was stupid enough to send you here? You don't know shit about cars. |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | That sounds right. That sounds right. Yeah, no. I mean it it then |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | that that brand, you know, uh in terms of like they' orewn bare beach month, that that' |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | s's no secret, uh, which is a big |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | publicly traded company who's who owns some |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | of the best brands in the world. And I I think, you |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | know, the the way that I understand Langa's placement within that group is that it is really a tiny jewel within |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | that company. It's something that, you know, you know |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | , is it there to drive global awareness in the same way |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | that Cartier is? Like clearly not. We know that. Is it there to |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | drive awareness the same way that a Gigère or Panera is? I think assu |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | redly not. It's there for |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | for the love of of craft and I think Wilhelm has done an |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | exceptional job. I mean, he is, I think, |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | the longest serving CEO, global CEO within the |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | group right now. Don't quote me on that, but it feels that way to me |
| Jack Forster | . Yeah. And I I think |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | it that that says a lot about him. It says a lot about the company, the way that the company is managed, even from the the the level above, you know, within the group. And |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | it really is just a special place full of special people do |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | ing special things. And, you know, I think you |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | know the three of us you know this is a total love fest but I think it' |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | s it's one of those rare occasions where |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | it's it's really well deserved. You know, they're not a perfect company but they |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | 're as close to a perfect company in the watchmaking industry as as you're gonna find |
| Jack Forster | . I couldn't agree with you more, Ben. I mean, what I was thinking while you were while you were speaking just now was they're there to be good. That's their job in the group. They're they're just there to be good |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Right. Well, thank you guys |
| Jack Forster | . It it has been a little bit of a long end zone a love fest, but hopefully folks listening to this will have a sense of why you know that can happen. I mean we've got three guys here who you know I mean we've seen a few watches in our time. And uh they're really is something special about Langer. And um, you know, thanks for talking it out |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Yeah, it's our pleasure. And I think, |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | you know, again, just to kind of like, you know, stop the criticism even before it comes, it's like |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | show anybody that loves cars a |
| Wilhelm Schmidt | 1960s Ferrari and they will have nothing bad to say about it. You know, show anybody that that loves cameras a 1950s like it and they'll have nothing bad to say about it. Show anybody that loves watches Elong and sound, they will have nothing bad to say about it |
| Jack Forster | . Yeah. I mean, as uh one of my uh kung fu teachers said, uh to say anything more would be like painting legs on a snake. There's nothing more to say |
| Ben Clymer/Logan Baker | . Okay. We're out. Thanks, guys |
| Jack Forster | . |