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Lange & Sohne CEO Wilhelm Schmid's Take on the Watch Market and Luxury Timepiece Design · Masters in Business

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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Masters in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Business with Barry Ritholts on Bloomberg Radio.
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  Speaker 2: This week on an extra special live edition of Masters
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  Speaker 2: in Business. I'm at the Audreine Newport Concourse the Elegance,
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  Speaker 2: and my conversation is with Wilhelm Schmidt. He is the
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  Speaker 2: CEO of Alain and Zona, one of the finest watch
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  Speaker 2: companies in the world. They're located in glass Shoota, Germany.
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  Speaker 2: Our conversation talked about everything from collectible time pieces to
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  Speaker 2: collectible cars. I found it fascinating and I think you
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  Speaker 2: will also, with no further ado, my discussion with a
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  Speaker 2: Linen Zonners WILLELM. Schmidt. WILLELM. Schmidt, welcome you. Thank you
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  Speaker 2: so much for this for hosting this event and participating
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  Speaker 2: in our conversation. I have so many things to talk
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  Speaker 2: to you about, but I have to start with this
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  Speaker 2: prestigious concourse, in this spectacular setting, on what could be
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  Speaker 2: the nicest day of the year. What is the connection
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  Speaker 2: between classic cars and fine mechanical time Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean people say me because I like cars
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  Speaker 3: and watches and watches and cars, but I think it's
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  Speaker 3: of course more than that. You know, watchmaking is that's
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  Speaker 3: what we emphasize on a ninety percent of our energy.
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  Speaker 4: We'll go into watchmaking. That's that's that's our home turf.
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  Speaker 3: But I believe as a global brand, you also need
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  Speaker 3: to find a world that is focused on something else,
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  Speaker 3: but where you have sort of a common ground that
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  Speaker 3: you can walk on. And about fourteen years ago, we
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  Speaker 3: were looking for a platform where we can show the
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  Speaker 3: brand and we can bring customers to entertain aim. And
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  Speaker 3: if you look at these cars, let's start with the
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  Speaker 3: cars and look at the word concourse of elegance. So
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  Speaker 3: we're not in vintage cars or racing. It's about concourse
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  Speaker 3: of elegance. You know, It's about beauty, it's about heritage,
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  Speaker 3: it's about craftsmanship, it's about design. And if you look
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  Speaker 3: onto the pillars on which our brand rests, it is
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  Speaker 3: exactly it's it's history, heritage, it's design, and it's of
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  Speaker 3: course the craftsmanship. And trust me, these cars that you
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  Speaker 3: see here as they were built, they were built by
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  Speaker 3: proper craftsmen, and even today, without proper craftsmen, you will
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  Speaker 3: not keep them on the road.
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  Speaker 2: And I know that you studied as an engineer and
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  Speaker 2: mechanic before eventually moving over to watch is obviously the
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  Speaker 2: design ethos of some of these cars. Yeah, they're just
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  Speaker 2: so phenomenal and spectacular. What sort of inspiration do you
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  Speaker 2: running a fine watchmaker take from the designs of these cars?
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  Speaker 3: I you know, it's it's I don't think you can
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  Speaker 3: immediately take something from that world into our world. But
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  Speaker 3: if you look at these cars, well, the first thing
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  Speaker 3: that comes to mind is some of them are fifty
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  Speaker 3: sixty eighty, one hundred years old and we look at
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  Speaker 3: them today and they still fascinate us. So obviously that
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  Speaker 3: design survived all the different fashion, change of taste, lots
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  Speaker 3: of time. They are here today and they're as attractit
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  Speaker 3: as they were probably back then when they were brand new.
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  Speaker 4: If you look at.
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  Speaker 3: Specifically the purpose built car, you know, the race cars,
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  Speaker 3: they were built for only one purpose and that's what
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  Speaker 3: they were perfect in. And I think in watches you
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  Speaker 3: also have to identify what is it that you emphasize
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  Speaker 3: on and then don't compromise too much on it, because
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  Speaker 3: if you start making big compromises, you end up with
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  Speaker 3: something which is, you know, a little bit of everything,
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  Speaker 3: but nothing particularly really good. So I think that's what
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  Speaker 3: you can take from cars into watches, identify the purpose,
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  Speaker 3: and then everything should direct to achieve that. If I
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  Speaker 3: call it the north Star, you know that purpose and
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  Speaker 3: for watches is exactly the same.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a lovely white Mercedes going out there, it's
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  Speaker 2: the red interior. And I once heard someone ask you
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  Speaker 2: to compare alonga to a car, and you thought about
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  Speaker 2: it and said the going because the design was purposeful
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  Speaker 2: from start to finish. Tell us what you mean by
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  Speaker 2: purposeful in either watch or card design.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, if you if you go back and
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  Speaker 3: think about the mid fifties in Germany. I mean I
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  Speaker 3: wasn't born there, I'm not that old, but you know
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  Speaker 3: I can I see, I saw pictures, I saw pictures
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  Speaker 3: of the other to bar, and I saw the cars
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  Speaker 3: on the road back then. And then think about very
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  Speaker 3: suddenly something like the gold wing appears. I mean, an
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  Speaker 3: alien could have landed and caused the same result.
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  Speaker 4: Tubular frame, horse.
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  Speaker 3: Powers, you know, two hundred and thirty five kilometers an
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  Speaker 3: hour high speed.
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  Speaker 4: You know what they did the doors.
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  Speaker 2: Because you couldn't have a door over that frame.
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  Speaker 3: Which to the seals were too wide, so they just
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  Speaker 3: came up with the doors and you know what they
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  Speaker 3: did at lemore, they wanted to permit that because in
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  Speaker 3: the book it didn't say explicitly it's not allowed, but
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  Speaker 3: you know, leave and they.
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  Speaker 4: Did absolutely absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the car was made for one purpose,
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  Speaker 3: and I was winning races in the first place, and
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  Speaker 3: and and paving the way for I see this internationally
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  Speaker 3: to be back where they want it to be, and
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  Speaker 3: that is very high up. Don't forget the price of
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  Speaker 3: these cars. I mean you could probably bought streets for
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  Speaker 3: the same price, not houses. Streets in the mid.
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  Speaker 2: Fifties, arguably the first supercar ever made. So your accountoisseur
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  Speaker 2: of vintage cars, I know you have a couple of Porsches.
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  Speaker 2: Tell us what else you like in classic automobiles.
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  Speaker 3: I do like the what I call the odd bolts.
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  Speaker 3: The porch that I have are actually the exceptions. Because
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  Speaker 3: everybody knows what the nine to eleven is and probably
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  Speaker 3: many people know what a three to five six is,
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  Speaker 3: So that's.
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  Speaker 4: I don't say utility, but these cars are.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the three five six is my Swiss pocket knife,
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  Speaker 3: right because you know it could go on a tour
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  Speaker 3: with it, which I take that car a lot. And
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  Speaker 3: if the weather is nice, you just open the roof
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  Speaker 3: and it takes you thirty seconds, and if the rain comes,
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  Speaker 3: it takes you thirty seconds to bring the roof back on.
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  Speaker 3: It is not as water tight as you think it is.
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  Speaker 3: I have to say. There's still a lot of water
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  Speaker 3: coming through, but at least you're roughly protected against the environment.
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  Speaker 3: And the nine to eleven is the car that I
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  Speaker 3: never wanted and I will never sell. It's just a
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  Speaker 3: fantastic driving car. But you know, the other cars that
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  Speaker 3: are have are more for people.
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  Speaker 4: That really know about cars.
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  Speaker 3: You know, if I share somebody, I have a Phraser Nash,
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  Speaker 3: most people wouldn't even know what that is. And that's
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  Speaker 3: not a surprise because I think they built about six
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  Speaker 3: hundred cars pre war and then about eighty three post war.
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  Speaker 3: So the likelihood that you know it if you're not
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  Speaker 3: into the hobby is very high.
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  Speaker 2: So I keep meeting people here channing about cars, channing
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  Speaker 2: about watches. When I was doing a little research on you,
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  Speaker 2: it turns out that you really know the firm's clients,
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  Speaker 2: both customers and collectors. What do you do in an
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  Speaker 2: event like this? How much time do you spend with
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  Speaker 2: some of the longer collectors and people who are so
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  Speaker 2: enthusiastic about the brand.
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  Speaker 4: I would say ninety percent.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we have not in interviews with you that
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  Speaker 3: I'm out there and talking to our customers. You know,
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  Speaker 3: that's the most important for us because at the end,
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  Speaker 3: we mustn't forget all that is not paid by Lango
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  Speaker 3: and Zoo. This is fai by our customers.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a quote of yours I really enjoyed. We
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  Speaker 2: want to surprise, inspire and enchant our clients with an
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  Speaker 2: unprecedented imagination and ingenuity. How do you go from those
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  Speaker 2: lofty goals to turning it into a mechanical time piece.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, it takes strict discipline. The
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  Speaker 3: moment you do things that are not in line with
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  Speaker 3: who you are, you may surprise people, but probably not
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  Speaker 3: positively and for sure eventually will dilute your brand equity.
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  Speaker 3: So the third thing is you have to apply dicipline.
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  Speaker 3: That's why we have six different watch families, and we
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  Speaker 3: have sort of arison of seven years, and we want
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  Speaker 3: to play each Watch family at these ones, let's say
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  Speaker 3: within twenty four months rolling. So that's you know, sort
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  Speaker 3: of the engineering structure all attempts. That doesn't answer your question,
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  Speaker 3: I know, staying traditional but thinking out of the box,
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  Speaker 3: because our value set is very traditional, but our thinking
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  Speaker 3: is often very much out of the box. I give
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  Speaker 3: you a good example that tobion has been invented by
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  Speaker 3: Brighee I think about two hundred and eighty years back
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  Speaker 3: or so something like this.
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  Speaker 4: It was there to enhance.
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  Speaker 3: The accuracy of a watch by you know, eliminating the
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  Speaker 3: mistake that happened through gravity.
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  Speaker 2: Basically mostly pocket watches which we're alwaysacing down.
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  Speaker 3: And of course it's a very delicate mechanism. It does
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  Speaker 3: do the job because think about you put your watch
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  Speaker 3: on the desk next to your bed, so at least
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  Speaker 3: for ten hours it is exposed to gravity without moving. Anyhow,
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  Speaker 3: I want to argue the necessity of a tour beyond.
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  Speaker 3: What we found very interesting is that it was there
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  Speaker 3: to enhance the accuracy, but it was impossible to set
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  Speaker 3: time correctly because if you do that with a running second,
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  Speaker 3: it is pure luck that you hit exactly the point.
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  Speaker 3: So we were the first in two thousand and nine
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  Speaker 3: to come up with a mechanism that makes the tour
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  Speaker 3: beyond stop. So the second hand comes to a stop
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  Speaker 3: and you can adjust the time properly. We then went
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  Speaker 3: one step further with the eighteen fifteen tor Beyond, where
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  Speaker 3: you not only stopped the moment you pull the crown,
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  Speaker 3: that second then goes to zero, which is the best
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  Speaker 3: way to adjust.
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  Speaker 4: Your watch properly.
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  Speaker 3: Now that sounds easy, but if you take into consideration
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  Speaker 3: that that tor Beyond has about eighty five little parts,
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  Speaker 3: the total weight is about zero point seventy five grum wow.
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  Speaker 3: You know, any impact and the mechanism will be destroyed,
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  Speaker 3: so you have to be very careful in what you do.
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  Speaker 3: That is just one example where we think out of
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  Speaker 3: the box. A chronograph with sort of a running minute,
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  Speaker 3: which most of them do. You know, the second hand
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  Speaker 3: goes and it's catching the minute counter. And then as
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  Speaker 3: the second hand goes on, the minute counter slowly moves,
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  Speaker 3: which makes it quite difficult. Is in now two minutes
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  Speaker 3: or three minutes or four minutes, so hours in most
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  Speaker 3: cases have to jumping. So it's the second nd crosses
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  Speaker 3: the twelve, it jumps by one minute, so you're absolutely
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  Speaker 3: clear it's one minute, two minutes, three minutes or formluta,
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  Speaker 3: and not is it two and a half or the
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  Speaker 3: three just little things that don't mean a lot for
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  Speaker 3: people that are not into fine watches, but they mean
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  Speaker 3: the world for our customers.
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  Speaker 2: I want to talk about the Odysseus and a little
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  Speaker 2: bit and that particular chronograph which is early unique, but
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: we're not quite there yet. I want to stay with
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  Speaker 2: the fact that Langa is famously a German watchmaker. What
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  Speaker 2: advantages are there or disadvantages being a German maker in
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  Speaker 2: an industry dominated by giant Swiss brands.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think it's more an advantage than it is advantage.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, I always say there is no Swiss
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  Speaker 3: watchmaking and there's no German watchmaking, because think about it.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you can find Swiss made watches for one
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  Speaker 3: hundred euro and then you find the same for a
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  Speaker 3: few million. How how can how can be there any
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  Speaker 3: common denominator that covers the Swiss made from there to there?
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  Speaker 3: So same for Germany. You know, we have watches that
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  Speaker 3: are very inexpensive, and then you have us with sometimes
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  Speaker 3: watches up to two million. Obviously at the at the
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  Speaker 3: top end, it's like a package. It's like a box
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  Speaker 3: of chocolate, you know, And our chocolate is craftsmanship, history
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  Speaker 3: and design and we stay very strict to it.
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  Speaker 2: So some of the bigger brands put out watches in
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  Speaker 2: the millions of units. Rollox famously two to three million.
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  Speaker 2: Protec is known to do about seventy five thousand watches,
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  Speaker 2: Longer does a small fraction. Every piece is made by
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  Speaker 2: hand assembled twice.
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  Speaker 3: And not because we can't get it right first time,
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  Speaker 3: just to make that.
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  Speaker 2: Reassembled first, and then the pieces are taking apart in
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  Speaker 2: hand engraved and decorated ways.
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  Speaker 3: It's, you know, because we use the original sources. We
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  Speaker 3: believe that anything, that nothing, is much better than than
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  Speaker 3: German silver. You know, that's the perfect material. It's been
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  Speaker 3: It's been good for the last one hundred and fifty years.
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  Speaker 3: So we believe in this and we don't want to
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  Speaker 3: coat it, which means over time it will develop a
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  Speaker 3: very nice petina.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: The silver will get that little gold and glue, which
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  Speaker 4: is beautiful.
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  Speaker 3: The problem is you breathe on it, or you touch it,
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  Speaker 3: it will look very ugly very soon and you cannot
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  Speaker 3: even clean it.
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  Speaker 4: You have to machine it.
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  Speaker 3: So that means to maintain a statical and technical perfection,
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  Speaker 3: you first have to make sure your movement is absolutely
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  Speaker 3: up to scratch. All tolerances are there, everything is adjusted,
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  Speaker 3: everything works. You go through the test, and if you
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  Speaker 3: have assurance, you know that movement is like it has
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  Speaker 3: to be. It goes back to the watchmaker. He or
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: she will disassemble it, clean it, put in the final
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  Speaker 3: decoration because you know, you know, you don't have to
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  Speaker 3: adjust anymore because that's done. You clean it, you oil it,
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  Speaker 3: you put the final decoration, and in case that it
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: goes again through the test and only then it ends
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  Speaker 3: up a happy wrist.
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  Speaker 2: So inherently, the way you build watches, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: be somewhat limited in production. How does that affect the
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  Speaker 2: decision making process of what sort of watches you make?
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  Speaker 2: And I know there are a number of longer watches
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  Speaker 2: that are limited editions of one hundred or fifty or
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  Speaker 2: even twenty five. What's the thinking behind that?
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  Speaker 4: Very easy? You know.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes let's take the Mint Repeter perpetual calendar that we
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  Speaker 3: launched this year in April. We know it's going to
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  Speaker 3: take us three to four years to build the fifty watches.
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  Speaker 2: Meaning from start to finish, you'll do a couple of
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  Speaker 2: watches every year.
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  Speaker 4: Wow, you know so?
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  Speaker 3: And we know that so in today's world. To come
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  Speaker 3: up now with this sort of capacity and say we
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  Speaker 3: produce one hundred means the last one we'll get to
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  Speaker 3: watch in eight years.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that's a long time.
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  Speaker 4: That doesn't make any sense.
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  Speaker 3: So what that's, you know, capacity balanced by what we
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  Speaker 3: think we can expect from a customer to wait that
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  Speaker 3: usually gives them a year.
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  Speaker 2: About the limitation, I was looking at the longer perpetual
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  Speaker 2: in black and I stopped by the boutique and they said,
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  Speaker 2: figure somewhere between twelve and fifteen months before yours is ready.
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  Speaker 2: So when someone orders a watch that goes into the
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  Speaker 2: system and my watch is moving like it's literally that
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: specific coming up. We continue our conversation with A Langan's
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  Speaker 2: own as CEO, Wilhelm Schmidt. I'm Barry Ridults. You're listening
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Bury Redults.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. Let's
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: continue our conversation with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of watchmaker A
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Langon Zonar. So the Odysseus came out, very unique looking
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: sports watch. Then a lightweight titanium version.
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  Speaker 3: No first of white gold, white gold, so it was
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: twenty fourth of October nineteen stainless steel. In April twenty twenty,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: white gold, then titanium, then the honey gold, then the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: honey gold. No, then the odysseous chronograph, the chronograph, and
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: then the honey gold.
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  Speaker 2: So let's talk about the chronograph. Most people are familiar
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: with chronos because they typically have two or three subdcs,
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  Speaker 2: not with the Odysseus.
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  Speaker 4: Now, that wouldn't work because of the design of the dial.
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  Speaker 2: You know, if this is a big day and date, if.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: You take the dial off and you look at the
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: movement on the upside of the movement, you will see
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: it's almost all blocked, so there is no way that
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: you come through. And of course we also didn't want
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: to increase the size by much. You know, we want
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: to have a wearable watch. So the only was to
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: utilize the center even more than we usually do. And
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  Speaker 3: that's why the chronograph, the second and the minute hand
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  Speaker 3: comes out of the center.
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  Speaker 2: And when you reset the chronograph, it does a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of a dance. Yeah, that's kind of unusual. I've
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  Speaker 2: spoken to a lot of people about this. Nobody has
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  Speaker 2: been able to explain that to me. You're my last.
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  Speaker 4: Hope. It's very easy because they are yet together. So
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  Speaker 4: if you reset it, the.
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  Speaker 3: Minute hand will do as many turns as the second
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  Speaker 3: because it's linked right, and it is so quick that
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  Speaker 3: you can't see it. I probably would take a good
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: camera and then you slow it down to see it.
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  Speaker 3: But basically, if you have stopped seventeen minutes and let's
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: say thirty seconds, what works like this is factually seven
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  Speaker 3: times going around to come to zero. Why does it
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: do that because it's get together. It's you know, because
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  Speaker 3: it comes out of directly.
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  Speaker 2: Because of it's a censor hand.
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  Speaker 4: That's exactly the point.
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  Speaker 2: Huh, that's really that's really fascinating. So a watch like
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  Speaker 2: the zeat Work or the Odysseus, how long is that
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  Speaker 2: process when someone first conceives of this take us through?
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  Speaker 2: How long it is from idea to the finished product
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  Speaker 2: in the boutique?
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  Speaker 3: Very different, you know. Odysseus, as I said, took us
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  Speaker 3: twenty five years. Basically, I think that the real process
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: where we identify that's the face you know that looks
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: different to anything else in the market, that will not
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: cannibalize anything within our own range to launch to watch
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: it the twenty fourth of October in twenty nineteen.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: Always good.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Seven years, seven years from start to finish, that's that's amazing.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: So yesterday at the event to new Longest dropped the
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Saxonia Thin Yes in black, Onyx and platinum Yes right.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: True, honeyguld and platinum.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Really striking dress watches. The Saxonia are sort of I
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: don't want to call it entry level, but they're less
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: pricey than some of the other watches.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Are more simple's shock, you know, for us, it's all
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: about the amount of parts, the years it take to develop,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: the hours it takes to assemble that at the end
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: will define whether it's a complicated watch or I would
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: say more simple watch and two hands. I think we
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: don't go more simple than two hands.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: And my first nice dress watch was a rose gold
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Saxonia Mood Phase see over black Yes. And one of
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the things that people are genuinely surprised is the same
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: level of detail and finishing what you describe as simple
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: A lot of people think of in terms of price point.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: There seems to be no different.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, it's you know, if you look at our
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: process in the manufactory, we can you know, the people
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: that work on finish. They sometimes have no idea where
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: that part will end up, so they will not say, oh,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: that goes into grand complication. We do it a little better,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: or that goes into thin how we do it a
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: little That's.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: The same thing, regardless of a million dollars or entry life.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: We do not distinguish in quality at all. It's all
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: the same. Emphasize on love to detail, craftsmanship, hand polishing, decoration,
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: hand engraving. There is no difference double assembly. It's one process.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter whether the watch will cost twenty five
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: thousand euro or two million.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: And when people say to me, I'm looking for an
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: elegant dress watch, but something that's not too pricey, my
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: answers alt is to Saxonia. It's just timeless and so
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: elegant and continues to just Yes, the design gets better
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: over time.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: And and it's it's it's a you know, people, you
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: look at it and you see it's an Alango on
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: zurna watch. If you have something complicated like this, you
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: have a lot of hands to work with. You have
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: the sub dials. You know you have to push, but
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: you can do a lot. But I think one of
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: the biggest challenge for designers is you have two hands
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: to work with and not a lot on the on
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: the dial. Make it an alanngo on zna.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: So the data graph has been called one of the
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: best pronographs ever designed. What's the core of that, watches
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: up Peel, What makes that so special?
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: I think it's.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: It's it's it's more than just a watch.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I'm a watch collector for a long long time. I
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: can remember when I opened the newspaper in twenty in
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: ninety four and I saw the act with the four
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Langa watches ninety nine, where most companies around the world
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: we're still using somebody else's movement and often the same supplier.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Here comes a chronograph, which is one of the crown
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: things in watchmaking from Germany, in a very unique design
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: with an outsized date. I think it was a wake
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: up call and we must not underestimate what that watch
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: started in the watch industry because before that chronograph didn't
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: play a role there to supplier and that was it
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: basically after that, and if you then go and analyze
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: what happened from then to the following five six, seven years,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: a lot of chronograph movements came out. So that's why
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: this watch is so important for us. That was the
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: first real complication other than the torbyond polymerit that we
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: worked on, and I think that was a wake up
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: call and it just gave us a reputation as a
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: solid watchmaker that it's the next level.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Up for sure, Absolutely the next level up. So you
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: get to spend a lot of time with clients, with
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: customers still lectors. How are you seeing their expectations and
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: desires changing? What does the client base look for from
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Langa over the next.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: I think it does it never changed, never changed.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: No.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: First of all, do you have any idea what you
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: were like in three years from no one who does exactly.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: So when people say, oh, you come with a small
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: watch because you follow trend, I say, look, I mean
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: I wish we had known seven years ago when we
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: started develop the movement.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: We're not in the.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Fashion industry business. You know, our processes and the time
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: it takes to come to market is so long that
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: you maybe can anticipate, but maybe you have to stay
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: true to yourself.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: And I think the one thing.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Which our customers expect from us is authenticity. It has
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: to be in our Langa on Zouna and if you
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: had followed the discussion after we launched the Odysseus, because
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: you know, we always said we only precious metal, and
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: here can we steal, and later on with titanium. So
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: of course there was a heated debate. Of course there was,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: and we were aware of it because that is a
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: tension that on purpose, we wanted. There were a lot
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: of people that said it's.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Not for me.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: I see lang as dress watch only there were luckily
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: a lot more people that say, I want that watch desperately.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: We can produce fine. However, it just opened up a
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: new chapter in our design language because now we have
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: a playground to try out things that you would never
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: do with our classical watch families.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And every car enthusiast knows. When the Porsche nine to
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: eleven came out, the three point fifty six purists were upset,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: what are you giving us such a big car? Who
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: needs six cylinders?
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, that's why they built in nine twelve. Put the
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: four cylinder in, you know, That's exactly what they did.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's finny.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Sometimes I love this quote of yours, and I'm wondering
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: if it still applies. You said, part of longest success
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: is that we're a secret. So question number one is
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: what makes that an asset? And question number two is,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: look at this event. How much longer is this a secret?
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Oh? It is? It is. It is in the white world.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: We are still absolutely unknown, and I think that's a
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: good place to be.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: There are.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: There are three reasons to it. The one is what
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: we do is very difficult to understand, specifically at the
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: price point that we request for people that are not
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: into fine watchmaking. Why would you spend so much money
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: on a watch when your iPhone gives you the time
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: more precisely? You know that the general thinking for sure.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: The second is in today's world, you don't want to
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: show off too much.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: These are very much under the radar, and I am
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: always shocked at people who haven't the slightest idea when
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I'm wearing this as opposed to the better it's nice.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: I mean that gives you a certain confidence and a site,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: and it's it's you know, you don't need to shout.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: And on the other hand, and I'm sure you can
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: if you see somebody that is also having a langer
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: on Zouna. It's not difficult to get the communications started,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: isn't it?
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Immediately?
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Something to chat.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: But if you know, you know, you know, and that's
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: why I believe it is so important to remain a secret.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I also admit the real challenges to secret, to share
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: the secret with the right crowd of people, because at
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: the end, you know, I mean, I'm fine. But whenever
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: we take the new apprenticeship trainees in in August, I
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: feel the duty on my shoulders because now they start
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: a career as watchmaker and they're in for the next
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: forty years. So we need to make sure that the
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: next generation knows what we do and we stay relevant
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: for this.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So I only have you for a few more minutes.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: I want to get to my last couple of questions.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Speaking of the next generation, Yeah, how do you appeal
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: to younger buyers and what sort of approach do you
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: have as all these tastes seem to shift amongst the
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: twenty and thirty something crowd.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: YEA, gladly, we don't have a real issue here. We
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: have a surprisingly young customer base. I always say that,
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: and I never understood it. I mean, if you're young
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: and you're interested with what speaks against quality, longevity, classless
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: and timeless design, robustness, value creation, I mean It doesn't
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: matter whether you are one hundred years old or ten.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: If you're into that, you're gonna like it. The way
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: we connect with these people it's different to the way,
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: let's say I was connected to the watch industry because
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: as I grew up, it was very difficult to find
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: even specialized magazines for watchers. Today you have everything you
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: can think of. I believe we live in absolute parodized
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: times for for watching enthusius because never ever in history
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: have there been more watch friends, higher information, more information,
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: and easy accessible information. You know, you can do your
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: research without leaving your room. That was impossible in times.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: You know where I started to get into the.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Hobbity, although I would tell people go see the watch,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: go try it on.
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: Make sure the only thing that met us.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: That's right, it's the only I just say, the natural
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: habitat of a risk watch is the risk. So to
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: forget about looking at them sing and I like it.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: That's a good start. But the moment of truth is
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: you grab that watch, you put it around your wrist,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: You look at yourself and see is it me or
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: is it not?
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: So how do you have access to every longer watch
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: there is? How do you decide what you're going to
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: grab that data where.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: You know this one because of you know chronograph, we're
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: in our world. It's the eighteen fifteen, so that's the
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: more classical line. I'm a huge fan of chronographs and
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: it doesn't get any better than A so you know that.
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: And I admit I think it looked very nice with
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: my ten color right now.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: So our last question tell us what's next for Longer
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: and Sona. What surprises are coming up down the road.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: What should we be looking for.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: I think it's always good to look for.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: But if I now share secrets, there's no surprise, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: that's the one thing. People love surprises. But I can
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: share with you as much as is this is not
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: the last surprise for this year.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Oh really, So the Saxonia things not the last surprise
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty five.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: It's what I shaid.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. That was my conversation with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: Alang and Zona. The Newport Ordering concourse to elegance extra
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: special thanks to the team that came up to Newport
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: to help film this. Alexis Noriega is my video producer.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Sebastian Escobar is my videographer Anna Luke is my producer.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Sage Bauman is the head of Podcasts at Bloomberg. I'm
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Barry Ridholts. You've been listening to Masters in Business on
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Bloomberg Radio.