At present we manufacture around 50 watches per year, and amongst them are several very specialised watches, built to specific customer requirements – some of our more unique pieces include a movement made of mammoth ivory, for instance. Every watchmaker at Lang & Heyne believes that each detail is important, which raises our quality to the highest level. Because of this, our watches actually tend to gain in value. And you run both a shop and a movement manufacturer, too… Tempus Arte Dresden is a boutique we created in 2012 as a new platform for international independent watchmakers to sell through. For similar reasons, we created Uhren-Werke-Dresden just a year later; it’s a supplier of watch parts, watch groups and entire movements for small and medium-sized brands which otherwise would have to rely on simple ETA movements. At UWD we make much larger quantities than at Lang & Heyne.
What is it about watchmaking you enjoy the most? The greatest pleasure is the variety – though manufacturing all the different watch parts, materials and surfaces, followed by finishing the watch in an attractive way, is very demanding. But the satisfaction is immense, too. Characteristic of our watches are things like a solid gold gear train and escapement wheel; a Breguet balance-spring with screws balance; and the already-mentioned bridges, often with screwed gold chatons. The more time
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you spend reshaping metal, the better you understand it – and the quality of the finished parts can’t help but benefit. That’s why any watchmaker applying for a job at Lang & Heyne needs to have a similar affinity for the material in their fingers. What sort of people do your watches appeal to? Well, the first thing to say – of course – is that there are only a very few watch enthusiasts who can actually afford a Lang & Heyne. These are mainly quite serious col-