Margaretha Theiler

When we were getting the MIH watch project off the ground, our idea was to cut down on packaging and present the timepiece in an unconventional, even radical, setting.

We believe that every element coming into contact with our watches deserves careful consideration. We want what we make to be useful – at least to our way of thinking. ochs und junior watches, therefore, are presented in a little leather wallet, which in turn comes in a cardboard folder alongside a few words about ochs und junior (who knows – someone might be interested in how the whole ochs und junior venture came into being and how the various highways and byways led us to where we are now).

The leather wallet is hand-stitched by Margaretha Theiler, Ludwig’s sister-in-law. He set her a challenge one day: you can come to my party, but only if you make me a prototype that I’ll love. It worked! The compact wallet is fashioned from ecologically tanned leather supplied by Ecopell and sports a titanium button milled by Peter Cantieni. Margaretha and husband Sepp created the design out of a circle, the starting point of every analogue watch dial.

A few years ago Margaretha acquired the entire contents of a leather-stitching workshop from an old bag maker; she installed them in her house in Zurich, then proceeded to expand the business making bespoke, hand-worked bags. She has created special satchels for ochs und junior so we can transport a number of watches at once on our sales trips, as well as a shoulder bag that neatly stores all the other bits and pieces we need on the road… not that we need field sales representatives, as our products can only be bought via the website or over the counter at Embassy. It just so happens we sometimes have to travel around with our watches, such as when a magazine wants to do a piece on ochs und junior, or when watch devotees living outside Lucerne want to see the watches ‘in the flesh’.

Is there any way we could persuade Margaretha to make a number of these unique shoulder bags…?

Leather watch wallets
Margaretha Theiler, Zürich
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