A. Lange & Söhne: "Staying true to our strategy”
Luca Dondi, Director of A. Lange & Söhne for Central, West & South Europe, Russia/CIS, disclosed the interests of the prestigious Maison in this interview.
By Joel Grandjean
Editor-in-Chief
Lange & Söhne has just celebrated its two hundredth anniversary. Tell us a bit about your new manufacture. Do you intend to increase your production?
The manufacture represents an important and essential stage for our company, not only in terms of results and success but also as regards to the future. We must never forget that our clients are experts, thus they are very demanding and even sometimes perfectly aware of the tiniest details and technical prowess of the watches available in this market. They expect nothing less than perfection from us both in terms of content and innovation and quality and finishes. The latter incidentally are characteristic of A. Lange & Söhne and that makes ours a unique business model in the watchmaking industry. The old manufacture had become a bit too cramped for the 500 or so watchmakers, most of whom were allotted the task of producing watches. There was not enough space.
So today you have better working conditions?
What with the dust in the old traditional building with windows, the conditions fell far short of what the market expects from us today and in the future. Therefore, we set up a new manufacture equipped with sophisticated technology on the inside but which has a very traditional exterior. Indeed, the new manufacture looks like a two hundred year old building with a state-of-the-art interior in terms of innovation and technology, thus guaranteeing the best working conditions for our collaborators.
Is the new manufacture eco-friendly?
Indeed, we have no impact whatsoever on our surroundings. We use geothermal energy to maintain the same temperature all year round in spite of the significant changes in temperature between night and day and winter and summer due to the proximity of the mountains. Managing to maintain a stable temperature within our building proved to be quite challenging. We did not opt to build a more modern building as A. Lange & Söhne has a solid bond with tradition, its history and its territory.
Therefore, we wanted something that would perfectly correspond to our values and that is why we chose a Swiss architect, from Basel, instead of a more internationally renowned architect. Whilst we did not intend to make much noise concerning the design of the building, our architect came up with a functional and modern solution that grants our watchmakers excellent working conditions.
Was the purpose of building a new manufacture, using better technology and improving working conditions to increase production?
No, we don’t aim to increase our production but rather to maintain its quality. Furthermore, we want to keep producing pieces that are especially ordered by our collectors and which they look forward to receiving. That's our best guarantee. To achieve this, we needed to improve our methods in order to save time. Hence, instead of increasing production, we have focused on our perpetual quest for perfection. That is what we do.
When we consider the brand's history, we cannot help but ask whether you will follow the market's trends and requirements for your next timepieces?
Lange has had huge success over the last twenty years because we remained loyal to our strategy and made no compromise whatsoever.
Therefore, we wanted something that would perfectly correspond to our values and that is why we chose a Swiss architect, from Basel, instead of a more internationally renowned architect. Whilst we did not intend to make much noise concerning the design of the building, our architect came up with a functional and modern solution that grants our watchmakers excellent working conditions.