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

Summary

Masters in Business: Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Söhne

Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Barry Ritholtz (Bloomberg)
Guest: Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Söhne
Event: Newport Audrain Concours d’Elegance

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Episode Overview

In this special live episode from the prestigious Newport Audrain Concours d’Elegance, Barry Ritholtz sits down with Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of the revered German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne. Their wide-ranging conversation explores the intersection of classic cars and fine timepieces, the unique identity of German watchmaking, design innovation, collector culture, and steering tradition into the future while remaining a “secret” among connoisseurs.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. The Parallels Between Cars and Watches

• Connection of Heritage & Craftsmanship

  • Both classic cars and fine mechanical watches emphasize beauty, heritage, craftsmanship, and purposeful design.
  • Quote:
    “If you look at these cars, let's start with the cars and look at the word concourse of elegance. So we're not in vintage cars or racing. It's about ... beauty, it's about heritage, it's about craftsmanship, it's about design. And if you look onto the pillars on which our brand rests, it is exactly ... history, heritage, design, and ... craftsmanship.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 02:36

• Design Lessons from Cars

  • Timelessness in design comes from clarity of purpose and not compromising on the guiding vision.

  • “If you look at these cars ... they still fascinate us. So obviously that design survived all the different fashion, change of taste, odds of time.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 04:24

  • Purposeful Design

    • “If you start making big compromises, you end up with something which is ... a little bit of everything, but nothing particularly really good. So I think that's what you can take from cars into watches: identify the purpose and then everything should direct to achieve that ... North Star.”
      — Wilhelm Schmid, 04:24

2. Collecting & Client Relationships

• Schmid is deeply involved with collectors and clients, using events like this to connect directly.

  • “I would say 90%. ... I'm out there and talking to our customers. ... This is paid by our customers.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 09:22

• Enchantment Through Innovation

  • Lange strives to “surprise, inspire and enchant our clients with unprecedented imagination and ingenuity.”
  • The way to achieve this is by adhering strictly to brand discipline and only innovating within those guardrails.
  • Quote:
    “The moment you do things that are not in line with who you are, you may surprise people, but probably not positively and for sure eventually will dilute your brand equity.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 09:57

3. Technical Innovations & Out-of-the-Box Thinking

• Tourbillon Stop Mechanism Example

  • Lange engineered the first mechanism to stop the tourbillon for accurate time-setting—a core example of traditional foundations with innovative thinking.
  • “We were the first in 2009 to come up with a mechanism that makes the tourbillon stop. ... The second hand comes to a stop and you can adjust the time properly.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 11:12

• Emphasis on Functional Design

  • Chronograph minute hands that jump for clarity, not glide, because “little things ... mean the world for our customers.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 12:59

4. The German Watchmaking Identity vs. Swiss Dominance

• Schmid contends that the “Swiss” or “German” tag is not definitional, especially at the high end.
  • “There is no Swiss watchmaking and there's no German watchmaking. ... Our chocolate is craftsmanship, history and design. And we stay very strict to it.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 13:31

5. Production Philosophy: Quality Over Quantity

• Every watch is assembled twice: first for function, then disassembled for decoration, then reassembled to ensure perfection.

  • “Not because we can't get it right first time ... but to maintain a statical and technical perfection ... it goes back to the watchmaker, he or she will disassemble it, clean it, put in the final decoration.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 14:38

• Limited Editions and Wait Times

  • Production scale is dictated by the painstaking manual process and customer willingness to wait.
  • Example: minute repeater perpetual calendar—only 50 pieces over 3–4 years.
  • “To come up now with this sort of capacity and say we produce 100, means the last one we'll get to watch in eight years. ... That doesn't make any sense.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 16:28

6. Product Development — The Odysseus Example

• Timeline from concept to boutique can be seven years or more. The Odysseus, a sport-luxury line, was in development for over two decades in some sense.

  • “Odysseus ... took us 25 years, basically ... the real process ... always good. Seven years [from prototype to launch].”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 22:41

• Innovation in Chronograph Mechanics

  • Odysseus chronograph features both the minute and second hands on the central axis, requiring unique mechanical solutions.
    • “If you reset it, the minute hand will do as many turns as the second. ... Basically if you have stopped 17 minutes and ... 30 seconds ... that's seven times going around to come to zero.”
      — Wilhelm Schmid, 21:42

7. “Entry Level” at Lange: No Compromise in Quality

• Even simpler watches like the Saxonia Thin are crafted to the same standard as million-euro pieces.
  • “We do not distinguish in quality at all. ... Emphasis on loft of detail, craftsmanship, hand polishing, decoration, hand engraving, there is no difference.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 24:19

8. Staying Authentic and Exclusive

• Lange’s appeal lies in remaining a “secret.”

  • “In the wide world, we are still absolutely unknown, and I think that's a good place to be. ... In today's world, you don't want to show off too much. ... If you know, you know.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 30:15–31:30

• “The real challenge is to share the secret with ... the right crowd of people ... so we need to make sure that the next generation knows what we do and we stay relevant for this.”
  — Wilhelm Schmid, 31:30

9. Younger Collectors and the Future

• Surprisingly, Lange has a youthful clientele.

  • “[Watches] that are quality, longevity, classless and timeless design, robustness, value creation—I mean, it doesn't matter whether you are 100 years old or 10, if you're into that, you're going to like it.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 32:24

• The world of watches is more accessible to a new generation via digital information and community, but the “moment of truth” is still trying it on.

  • “I just say the natural habitat of a wrist watch is the wrist.”
    — Wilhelm Schmid, 33:43

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Purposeful Design:
  “You have to identify what is it that you emphasize on and then don't compromise too much on it ... that's what you can take from cars into watches.” — Wilhelm Schmid, 04:24

• On Double Assembly:
  “Not because we can't get it right the first time ... to maintain a statical and technical perfection, you first have to make sure your movement is absolutely up to scratch.” — Wilhelm Schmid, 14:38

• Secret Brand Philosophy:
  “In the wide world, we are still absolutely unknown, and I think that's a good place to be ... In today's world, you don't want to show off too much.” — Wilhelm Schmid, 30:15

• On Chronograph Ingenuity:
  “If you reset it, the minute hand will do as many turns as the second. ... It's geared together, you know, because it comes out of the chimney strictly.” — Wilhelm Schmid, 21:42–22:18

• No Quality Compromise:
  “We do not distinguish in quality at all ... regardless, million dollars or entry level.” — Wilhelm Schmid, 24:19

• Future Surprises:
  “But if I now share secrets, there’s no surprise. And that's the one thing: people love surprises. But I can share with you as much as this is not the last surprise for this year.”
  — Wilhelm Schmid, 34:43

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:36] Parallels between cars and watches—heritage and design
• [09:22] Schmid’s time spent with collectors and clients
• [11:12] Tourbillon innovation and “out-of-the-box” technical thinking
• [13:31] German vs. Swiss watchmaking—brand ethos
• [14:38] Why every Lange is assembled twice
• [16:28] The logic behind limited editions and client wait times
• [20:26] Product evolution: the path of Odysseus and its unique chronograph
• [24:19] No compromise in finishing between entry-level and high-complication Lange watches
• [29:58] Lange as a collector’s “secret”—and why that’s deliberate
• [32:24] Youthful client base and the digital age of watch collecting
• [34:43] Hint about upcoming surprises for 2025

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Conclusion

This conversation provides a rare, candid glimpse into the philosophy and practices that make A. Lange & Söhne exceptional in the world of horology. Wilhelm Schmid's blend of technical insight, reverence for tradition, and enthusiasm for innovation makes it clear why Lange continues to enchant collectors—as much for its discretion and rigor as for its peerless, handcrafted watches.

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(Ad, intro, outro, and non-content sections omitted for clarity.)

Transcript

[Hannah Fry]

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Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts Radio News this is Masters in Business with.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio.

This week on an extra special live edition of Masters in Business. I'm at the Ordrain Newport Concourse d' Elegance and my conversation is with Wilhelm Schmidt. He is the CEO of a Langenzona, one of the finest watch companies in the world. They're located in Glashutte, Germany. Our conversation talked about everything from collectible timepieces to collectible cars. I found it fascinating and I think you will also. With no further ado, my discussion with A Langen's owners. Wilhelm Schmidt Wilhelm Schmidt, welcome to thank.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

You so much, Barry.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Thank you so much for hosting this event and participating in our conversation. I have so many things to talk to you about, but I have to start with this prestigious concourse and this spectacular setting on what could be the nicest day of the year. What is the connection between classic cars and fine mechanical timepieces?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah, some mean people say me because I like cars and watches and watches and cars. But I think it's of course more than that. You know, watchmaking is that's what we emphasize on a 90% of our energy will go into watchmaking. That's that's our home turf. But I believe as a Global brand. You also need to find a world that is focused on something else, but where you have sort of a common ground that you can walk on. And about 14 years ago, we were looking for a platform where we can show the brand and where we can bring customers to entertain. And if you look at these cars, let's start with the cars and look at the word concourse of elegance. So we're not in vintage cars or racing. It's about concourse of elegance. You know, it's about beauty, it's about heritage, it's about craftsmanship, it's about design. And if you look onto the pillars on which our brain rests, it is exactly. It's history, heritage, its design, and it's of course the craftsmanship. And trust me, these cars that you see here, as they were built, they were built by proper craftsmen. And even today, without proper craftsmen, you will not keep them on the road.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And I know that you studied as an engineer and mechanic before eventually moving over to watches. Obviously the design ethos of some of these cars, yeah, they're just so phenomenal and spectacular. What sort of inspiration do you, running a fine watchmaker, take from the designs of these cars?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I don't think you can immediately take something from that world into our world. But if you look at these cars, well, the first thing that comes to mind is some of them are 50, 60, 80, 100 years old. And we look at them today and they still fascinate us. So obviously that design survived all the different fashion, change of taste, odds of time. They are here today and they're as attractive as they were probably back then when they were brand new. If you look at specifically the purpose built car, you know, the race cars, they were built for only one purpose and that's what they were perfect in. And I think in watches you also have to identify what is it that you emphasize on and then don't compromise too much on it because if you start making big compromises, you end up with something which is, you know, a little bit of everything, but nothing particularly really good. So I think that's what you can take from cars into watches. Identify the purpose and then everything should direct to achieve that. If I call it the North Star, you know that purpose. And for watches, it's exactly the same.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So there's a lovely white Mercedes gull wing out there with a red interior. And I once heard someone ask you to compare a Lange to a car and you thought about it and said the gull wing because the design was purposeful from start to finish. Tell us what you mean by purposeful in either watch or car design?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Well, you know, if you, if you go back and think about the mid-50s in Germany, I mean, I wasn't born there, I'm not that old. But, you know, I can. I see, I saw pictures. I saw pictures of the Autobahn, I saw the cars on the road back then. And then think about, very suddenly, something like Gold Wing appears. I mean, an alien could have landed and caused the same result. Tubular frame, 210 horsepower, you know, do 235 kilometers an hour, high speed. You know why they did the doors?

[Barry Ritholtz]

Because you couldn't have a door over that frame for the body.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

The seals were too wide.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Right.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

So they just came up with the doors. And you know what they did at Le Mor, they wanted to permit that because in the book it didn't say explicitly, it's not allowed, but, you know, Neubergatli.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And they did very well.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

They negotiated it. Absolutely they did. Absolutely they did. No, but I think the car was made for one purpose and that was winning races in the first place and paving the way for Mercedes internationally to be back where they wanted to be. And that is very high up. Don't forget the price of these cars. I mean, you could probably bought streets for the same price. Not houses, streets in the mid-50s, arguably.

[Barry Ritholtz]

The first supercar ever made. So you're a connoisseur of vintage cars. I know you have a couple of Porsches. Tell us what else you like in classic automobiles.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I do like the, what I call the oddballs. The Porsche that I have are actually the exceptions because everybody knows what a 911 is, and probably many people know what a 356 is. So that's. I don't say utility, but these cars are. You know, the 356 is my Swiss pocket knife.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Right.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Because, you know, you can go on a tour with it, which I take that car a lot, and if the weather is nice, you just open the roof and it takes you 30 seconds. And if the rain comes, it takes you 30 seconds to bring the roof back on. It is not as watertight as you think it is. I have to say, there's still a lot of water coming through, but at least you're roughly protected against the environment. And the 911 is the car that I never wanted and I will never sell. It's just a fantastic driving car. But, you know, the other cars that I have are more for people that really know about cars. You know, if I share somebody, have a Fraser Nash, most people wouldn't even know what that is. And that's not a surprise because I think they built about 600 cars pre war and then about 83 post war. So the likelihood that you know it if you're not into the hobby is very high.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So I keep meeting people here, chatting about cars, chatting about watches. When I was doing a little research on you, it turns out that you really know the firm's clients, both customers and collectors. What do you do in an event like this? How much time do you spend with some of the Lange collectors and people who are so enthusiastic about the brand?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I would say 90%. You know, I'm not in interviews with you, then I'm out there and talking to our customers. You know, that's the most important for us, because at the end, we mustn't forget all that is not paid by Langeon. This is paid by our customers.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So there's a quote of yours I really enjoyed. We want to surprise, inspire and enchant our clients with an unprecedented imagination and ingenuity. How do you go from those lofty goals to turning it into a mechanical timepiece?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah, well, first of all, it takes strict discipline. The moment you do things that are not in line with who you are, you may surprise people, but probably not positively and for sure eventually will dilute your brand equity. So the first thing is you have to apply discipline. That's why we have six different watch families and we have sort of a horizon of seven years, and we want to apply each watch family at least once, let's say within 24 months, rolling. So that's, you know, sort of the engineering structure, all attempts. That doesn't answer your question. I know. Staying traditional, but thinking out of the box, because our value set is very traditional, but our thinking is often very much out of the box. I give you a good example. The Tourbillon has been invented by Breguet, I think, about 280 years back or so, something like this. It was there to enhance the accuracy of a watch by, you know, eliminating the mistake that happened through gravity, basically.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Mostly pocket watches which were always facing downwards.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And of course, it's a very delicate mechanism. It does do the job, because think about you put your watch on desk next to your bed, so at least for 10 hours, it is exposed to gravity without moving. Anyhow, I want to argue the necessity of a tourbillon. What we found very interesting is that it was there to enhance the accuracy, but it was impossible to set time correctly, because if you do that with a running second, it is pure Luck that you hit exactly the point. So we were the first in 2009 to come up with a mechanism that makes the tourbillon stop. So the second hand comes to a stop and you can adjust the time properly. We then went one step further with the 1815 tourbillon, where you not only stop the moment you pull the crown, that second hand goes to zero, which is the best way to adjust your watch properly. Now that sounds easy, but if you take into consideration that the Tourbillon has about 85 little parts, the total weight is about 0.75 gram. Any impact and the mechanism will be destroyed. So you have to be very careful in what you do. That is just one example where we think out of the box a chronograph with sort of a running minute, which most of them do. You know, the second hand goes and it's catching the minute counter. And then as the second hand goes on, the minute counter slowly moves, which makes it quite difficult. Is it now 2 minutes or 3 minutes or 4 minutes? So hours in most cases have the jumping. So the second hand crosses the 12, it jumps by one minute. So you're absolutely clear, it's one minute, two minute, three minute or four minutes. Not is it two and a half or is it three? Just little things that don't mean a lot for people that are not into fine watches, but they mean the world for our customers.

[Barry Ritholtz]

I want to talk about the Odysseus in a little bit and that particular chronograph, which is fairly unique, but we're not quite there yet. I want to stay with the fact that Lange is famously a German watchmaker. What advantages are there or disadvantages for being a German maker in an industry dominated by giant Swiss brands?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Look, I think it's more an advantage than a disadvantage. First of all, I always say there is no Swiss watchmaking and there's no German watchmaking. Because think about it, I mean, you can find Swiss made watches for €100 and then you find the same for a few million. How can be there any common denominator that covers the Swiss made from there to there? So same for Germany. You know, we have watches that are very inexpensive and then you have us with sometimes watches up to 2 million. Obviously at the top end, it's like a package, it's like a box of chocolate, you know, and our chocolate is craftsmanship, history and design. And we stay very strict to it.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So some of the bigger brands put out watches in the millions of units. Rolex famously 2 to 3 million. Patek is known to do about 75,000 watches, Lange does a small fraction. Every piece is made by hand, assembled twice.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And not because we can't get it right first time, just to make that.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Assemble first and then the pieces are taken apart and hand engraved and decorated.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Well, it's, you know, because we use the original sources, we believe that anything, that nothing is much better than German silver. You know, that's the perfect material. It's been good for the last 150 years. So we believe in this. And we don't want to coat it, which means over time it will develop a very nice patina. You know, the silver will get that little golden glue, which is beautiful. Problem is you breathe on it or you touch, will look very ugly very soon and you cannot even clean it. You have to machine it. So that means to maintain a statical and technical perfection, you first have to make sure your movement is absolutely up to scratch. All tolerances are there, everything is adjusted, everything works. You go through the test and if you have assurance, you know, that movement is like it has to be, it goes back to the watchmaker, he or she will disassemble it, clean it, put in the final decoration. Because now, you know, you don't have to adjust anymore because that's done. You clean it, you oil it, you put the final decoration in case it goes again through the test and only then it ends up on a happy wrist.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So inherently, the way you build watches, you're going to be somewhat limited in production. How does that affect the decision making process of what sort of watches you make? And I know there are a number of Lange watches that are limited editions of 100 or 50 or even 25. What's the thinking behind that?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Very easy. You know, sometimes let's take the minute repeater perpetual calendar that we launched this year in April. We know it's going to take us three to four years to build the 50 watches.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Meaning from start to finish, you'll do a couple of watches every year. Wow.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

You know, so. And we know that. So in today's world, to come up now with this sort of capacity and say we produce 100, means the last one we'll get to watch in eight years. Right.

[Barry Ritholtz]

That's a long time.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

That doesn't make any sense. So what that's, you know, capacity balanced by what we think we can expect from a customer to wait. That usually gives an idea about the limitation.

[Barry Ritholtz]

I was looking at the Lange Perpetual in black.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yes.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And I stopped by the boutique and they said, figure somewhere between 12 and 15 months before yours is ready. So when someone orders a watch that goes into the system and my watch is moving like it's literally that specific.

Coming up, we continue our conversation with Elang and Zona's CEO Wilhelm Schmidt. I'm Barry Ritholtz. You're listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio.

[Hannah Fry]

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[Barry Ritholtz]

I'm Barry Ritholtz. You're listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. Let's continue our conversation with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of watchmaker A Lange and Sohne.

So the Odysseus came out. Very unique looking sports watch. Then a lightweight titanium version.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

No first a white gold.

[Barry Ritholtz]

White gold.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

So it was 24th of October 19. Stainless steel in April 2020. White gold, then titanium, Then the honey gold. Then the honey gold. No, then the audacious chronograph.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Ah, the chronograph which is.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And then the honey gold.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So. All right, let's talk about the chronograph. Most people are familiar with Chronos because they typically have two or three sub dials. Not with the Odysseus.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

That wouldn't work because of the design of the dial. You know, if you, because of the.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Big day and date.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

If you take the dial off and you look at the movement, the upside of the movement, you will see it's almost all blocked. So there is no way that you come through. And of course we also didn't to want, want to increase the size by much. You know, we want to have a wearable watch. So the only way was to utilize the center even more than we usually do. And that's why the chronograph, the second and the minute hand comes out of the center.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And when you reset the chronograph, it does a little bit of a dance. Yeah, that's kind of unusual. I've spoken to a lot of people about this. Nobody has been able to explain that to me. You're my last hope.

Tell us about that.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

It's very easy because they are yet together. So if you reset it, the minute hand will do as many turns as the second. Because it's linked, it is so quick that you can't see it. I probably would take a good camera and then you slow it down to see it. But basically if you have stopped 17 minutes and let's say 30 seconds, what works like this is factually seven times going around to come to zero.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Why does it do that?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Because it's geared together, you know, because it comes out of the chimney strictly.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Because of its a sensor hand.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And that's exactly the point.

[Barry Ritholtz]

That's really fascinating. So a watch like the Z work or the Odysseus, how long is that process? When someone first conceives of this, take us through how long it is from idea to the finished product in the boutique.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Very different, you know, Odysseus, as I said, took us 25 years. Basically. I think that the real process where we identify that's the face, you know, that looks different to anything else on the market. That will not cannibalize anything within our own range. To, to, to, to launch to watch at the 24th of October in, in, in 2019. Always good. Seven years.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Seven years from start to finish. That's. That's amazing.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So. So yesterday at the event, two new longest drop. The Saxonia Thin.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yes.

[Barry Ritholtz]

In black, onyx and platinum.

Is that right?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

True. Onyx, honey gold and platinum.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Really striking dress watches. The Saxonia are sort of. I don't want to call it entry level, but they're less pricey than some of the other watches.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

They are more simple. That's how I saw it. You know, for us, it's all about the amount of parts, the years it take to develop, the. The hours it takes to assemble. That at the end will define whether it's a complicated watch or I would say more simple watch and two hands. I think we don't go more simple than two hands.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And my first nice dress watch was a rose gold Saxonian mood phase over black.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yes.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And one of the things that people are genuinely surprised is the same level of detail and finishing. What you describe as simple. A lot of people think of in terms of price point, there seems to be no difference.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

No, no, no. It's, you know, if you look at our. Our process in the manufacturing, you know, the people that work on finish, they sometimes have no idea where that part will end up. So they will not say, oh, that goes into grand complication. We do it a little better, or that goes in too thin, or we do it a little the same thing.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Regardless. Million dollars or entry level, we do.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Not distinguish in quality at all. It's all the same. Emphasize on loft of detail, craftsmanship, hand polishing, decoration, hand engraving, there is no difference. Double assembly. It's one process. It doesn't matter whether the watch will cost €25,000 or 2 million.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And when people say to me, I'm looking for an elegant dress watch, but something that's not too pricey, my answer is always the Saxonia. It's just timeless and so elegant and continues to just. The design gets better over time.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And it's a. You know, people, you look at it and you see it's an A Lange Undene watch. If you have something complicated like this, you have a lot of hands to work with. You have the sub dials, you know, you have to push, but you can do a lot. But I think one of the biggest challenge for designers is you have two hands to work with and not a lot on the dial. Make it an A Lange und.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So the Datagraph has been called one of the best chronographs ever designed. What's the core of that watch's appeal? What makes that so special?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I think it's more than just a watch. You know, I'm a watch collector for a long, long time. I can remember when I opened the newspaper in 94 and I saw the ad with the four Lange watches 99, where most companies around the world were still using somebody else movement and often the same supplier. Here comes a chronograph, which is one of the crown things in watchmaking from Germany, in a very unique design with an outsized date. I think it was a wake up call and we must not underestimate what that watch started in the watch industry. Because before that chronograph didn't play a role. There were two supplier and that was it. Basically after that. And if you then go and analyze what happened from then to the following five, six, seven years, a lot of chronograph movements came out. So that's why this watch is so important for us. Because that was the first real complication other than the tourbillon pole that we worked on. And I think that was a wake up call and it just gave us a reputation as a solid watchmaker, that it's the next level up for sure.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Absolutely the next level up. So you get to spend a lot of time with clients, with customers, with collectors. How are you seeing their expectations and desires changing?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

What.

[Barry Ritholtz]

What does the client base look for from Lange over the next?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I think it does. It never changed, never changes. No. First of all, do you have any idea what you will like in three years from now on?

[Barry Ritholtz]

Who does?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Exactly. So when people say, oh, you come with a small watch because you follow trend, I say, look, I mean, I wish we had known seven years ago and we started developing the movement. Movement. We are not in the fashion industry business, you know, our processes and the time it takes to come to market is so long that you maybe can anticipate, but maybe you have to stay true to yourself. And I think the one thing which our customers expect from us is authenticity. It has to be in a Lange undene. And if you had followed the discussion after we launched the the Odysseus, because you know, we always said we only precious metal and here come with steel and later on with titanium. So of course there was a heated debate. Of course there was. And we were aware of it because that is a tension that on purpose we wanted. There were a lot of people that said, ah, it's not for me, I see Langa as dress watch only. There were luckily a lot more people that say, I want that watch desperately, where we can produce fine. However, it just opened up a new chapter in our design language, because now we have a playground to try out things that we would never do with our classical watch family.

[Barry Ritholtz]

And every car enthusiast knows when the Porsche 911 came out, the 356 purists were upset. What are you giving us such a big car? Who needs six cylinders?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Absolutely. That's why they built a 912, put the four cylinder in, you know, that's exactly what they did. Yeah. That's funny. Sometimes.

[Barry Ritholtz]

I love this quote of yours, and I'm wondering if it still applies. You said part of Lange's success is that we're a secret.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So question number one is, what makes that an asset? And question number two is, look at this event. How much longer is this a secret?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Oh, it is, it is, it is. In the wide world, we are still absolutely unknown, and I think that's a good place to be. There are. There are three reasons to it. The one is what we do is very difficult to understand, specifically at the price point that we request for people that are not into fine watchmaking. Why would you spend so much money on a watch when your iPhone gives you the time? More precisely, you know that the general thinking for sure. The second is in today's world, you don't want to show off too much.

[Barry Ritholtz]

These are very much under the radar, and I am always shocked at people who haven't the slightest idea when I'm wearing this. As opposed to the better.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Nice. I mean, that gives you a certain confidence and a certain. It's. It's, you know, you don't need to shout. And on the other hand, and I'm sure you can agree on it, if you see somebody that is also having a Lange unservice, it's not difficult to get the communication started, isn't it?

[Barry Ritholtz]

Immediately you have something to chat about. If you know, you know.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

And that's why I believe it is so important to remain a secret. I also admit the real challenge is to secret, to share the secret with, you know, the right crowd of people. Because at the end, you know, I mean, I'm fine. But whenever we take the new apprenticeship trainees in in August, I feel the duty on my shoulders because now they start a career as watchmaker and they're in for the next 40 years. So we need to make sure that the next generation knows what we do and we stay relevant for this.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So I only have you for a few more minutes. I want to get to my last couple of questions. Speaking of the next generation.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Barry Ritholtz]

How do you appeal to younger Buyers. And what sort of approach do you have as all these tastes seem to shift amongst the 20 and 30 something crowd?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

Yeah, gladly. We don't have a real issue here. We have a surprisingly young customer base. I always say that and I never understood it. I mean, if you're young and you're interested, what speaks against quality? Longevity. Classless and timeless design, Robustness, value creation. I mean, it doesn't matter whether you are 100 years old or 10, if you're into that, you're going to like it. The way we connect with these people is different to the way, let's say I was connected to the watch industry because in. As I grew up, it was very difficult to find even specialized magazines for watches. Today you have everything you can think of. I believe we live in absolute paradise times for watch enthusiasts. Because never ever in history have there been more watch brands, higher quality, more information and easy, accessible information. Information, you know, you can do your research without leaving your room. That was impossible in times. You know where I started to get into the hobby?

[Barry Ritholtz]

Although I would tell people, go see the watch, go try it on.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

It's the only thing that matters. That's right, it's the only. I just say the natural habitat of a wrist watch is the wrist. So forget about looking at something. And I like it. That's a good start. But the moment of truth is you grab that watch, you put it around your wrist, you look at yourself and see, is it me or is it not?

[Barry Ritholtz]

So how do you have access to every Lambeau watch there is? How do you decide what you're gonna grab that day to wear?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

You know this one because of, you know, chronograph, we're in a car world. It's the 1815. So that's the more classical line. I'm a huge fan of chronographs and the. It doesn't get any better than a chronograph rattrapant. So you know that. And I admit I think it works very nice with my tan color right now.

[Barry Ritholtz]

So our last question. Tell us what's next for Longa and Sona? What surprises are coming up down the road? What should we be looking for?

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

I think it's always good to look for. But if I now share secrets, there's no surprise. And that's the one thing people love surprises. But I can share with you as much as this is not the last surprise for this year.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Oh, really? So the Saxonia Thins not the last surprise of 2025.

[Wilhelm Schmidt]

That's what I said.

[Barry Ritholtz]

Fantastic.

That was my conversation with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of Alangan Zona at the Newport. Audrey Concours d'. Elegance. Extra special thanks to the team that came up to Newport to help film this. Alexis Noriega is my video producer. Sebastian Escobar is my videographer. Anna Luke is my producer. Sage Bauman is the head of Podcast at Bloomberg. I'm Barry Ritholtz. You've been listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio.

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[Wilhelm Schmidt]

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