Looking back on the 10th anniversary of the Ginza boutique: "Never stop" - the shape of men's dreams

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2018.04.09

A. Lange & Söhne

A. LANGE & SÖHNE

A commemorative event celebrating the 10th anniversary of A. Lange & Söhne's Ginza boutique was held at the boutique on February 25th.
Gisbert L. Bruner, who came from Germany, spoke about the brand's journey to recovery and the company's unique technological capabilities.

　At a talk event celebrating the 10th anniversary of A. Lange & Söhne's Ginza boutique, Gisbert L. Brunner, who has been closely involved with the company since before the brand's revival, appeared. With our magazine's editor-in-chief, Masamasa Hirota, as the listener, he gave an almost nonstop explanation for about two hours. The interior and exterior of the Ginza boutique were redesigned to feature the 10th anniversary, and an object modeled after A. Lange & Söhne's iconic outsize date movement also pointed to the number 10.

Photographs by Yu Mitamura
Text by Yuto Hosoda (Chronos-Japan)

　"Let's start by talking about Günter Blümlein, an essential figure in the story of A. Lange & Söhne's revival. In the 1980s, he served as chairman of LMH, the parent company of Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC. In 1989, he witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and was inspired by a vision: to revive the German watch brand A. Lange & Söhne. He approached Walter Lange, the founder's great-grandson, with the idea. Walter must have been delighted, as reviving the family business established by his great-grandfather had been a long-cherished wish of Walter's. After gaining Walter's consent, Blümlein approached Albert Keck of Mannesmann, the parent company of LMH. He wanted to revive A. Lange & Söhne, but wondered if Mannesmann had the funds to do so. Fortunately, Keck had studied watchmaking before working at Mannesmann, so he agreed to the idea."

　Bruner and our editor-in-chief explain the manufacturing process of a hairspring, a rare sight to see. First, the raw material is put into a rolling mill to make it into a wire shape with a thickness of 0.5 mm, and then it is pulled and thinned in a die. To make the shape of the hairspring, it is put into another rolling mill to flatten it, and the thickness is reduced to about 1/1000 mm with an accuracy of 1/10 mm.

　The two thus began work on reviving the brand, but it appears the road was not easy.
"The place where the brand could be rebuilt had to be Glashütte in East Germany, where A. Lange & Söhne's headquarters were once located. However, after the war, East Germany, where Glashütte was located, became a socialist state. Under socialism, employees receive a fixed salary regardless of the nature of their work, so naturally, products that require significant cost and effort to make are not produced. In other words, the concept of 'luxury' disappeared. As a result, no matter how glorious the company may have been in the pocket watch era, it was impossible for the watchmakers working in the former East Germany to produce tourbillons or chronographs using only their know-how. The reason A. Lange & Söhne was able to recover from this situation and return to being a luxury watch brand was largely due to Blümlein's experience as a manager of luxury watch manufacturers such as IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre. He believed that the brand needed an iconic model, so he gave the Lange 1 an offset dial. His management of the company was based on his clear vision of what a luxury watch should be, and as a result, A. Lange & Söhne is what it is today."