Independents

PRESS RELEASE

ochs und junior offers open-ended customisation of Ludwig Oechslin's rigorously simple watches to its clients. 

This is not the standard level of customisation in which the client selects predetermined options. The client can bring new ideas to the table and ochs und junior uses its manufacturing expertise to realise them.

The size, materials, colours and more can be defined in direct dialogue with CEO Beat Weinmann. Three examples of open-ended customisations (including the rust annual calendar below) are personally related by Weinmann in the full press release.

PRESS RELEASE

Addendum: A few examples of the results:

1.) Patination (moon phase nebra):

The first truly unusual custom-made ochs und junior was created in 2012 for a physician from Lucerne. He was interested in astronomical phenomena and their representations. Currently he is planning a sun dial for his house.

For a big birthday, he bought himself one of the precise moon phase watches by Ludwig Oechslin, with a case crafted in the same material as his daily-used custom-made bike: titanium.

The dial was to be a very special one. He brought a book with pictures of the Nebra Sky Disc and asked to design his watch with this in mind. Together with Marc Höllmüller, one of the most talented jewellers in Switzerland, ochs und junior developed the concept of the moon phase nebra, closely resembling the original Nebra Sky Disc.

The dial is heat-treated and copper-patinated and takes on the same irregular turquoise sheen as the Nebra Sky Disc. The indices are inlaid with gold leaf; the sun at 12 o’clock is a solid, hammered 12k gold disc.

The hour and minute hands are made of gold-plated brass; the second hand is copper-patinated like the dial. The full moon consists of solid platinum, the new moon opposite of patinated silver.

2.) Colour (annual calendar Yves Klein blue):

The watch pictured above has a sterling silver 925 case and belongs to Nabil Gholam, an internationally recognised architect with offices in Seville and Beirut. He calls ochs und junior “the most modern watch company in the world” and the newest addition to his vintage watch collection is from ochs und junior.

Mr Nabil approached ochs und junior with the idea of changing the dial in his annual calendar to Yves Klein blue. It’s a very complex hue with a complex structure. Together with partner Cador, six versions were manufactured until all were happy with the result.

3.) Rust (annual calendar rust):

A Norwegian business man challenged ochs und junior to manufacture an annual calendar watch with a rusty iron dial for him. Since they liked the concept of having only two visible metals with no added color, they have been worked with our partner Peter Cantieni to create a single execution of this watch.

Cantieni executed the dial and the date disc in iron. He left them to rust, then milled out the indices and the date dot, creating the contrast necessary for optimal readability  –  with no added color.

However, there was an unprecedented challenge: the dial is an integrated functional component of the annual calendar mechanism, being part of the gear system displaying the month and day, and the intermediate wheel with two times five teeth in iron. The task was to let the front rust, while keeping the back free of rust to preserve the dial’s functionality.

Ochs and junior succeeded! Since both the client and the ochs und junior team are equally curious to see how the dial will react with time, it was decided not to protect it from further rust by varnishing it. It is likely that it will not change much since the environment within the watch is poor in oxygen. However, nothing is sure...

Cheers,

Magnus

 

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