Last Saturday, a spirited textile design student from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts named Sabina Brägger came by our workspace with an armful of very interesting leather samples.

Is that dinosaur leather?!

No, actually it is fish leather (sturgeon) from the Tropenhaus in Frutigen, Switzerland.

Why would we be interested in fish leather? We have no intention of giving up our vegetable-treated cow leather straps from Ecopell.

You see, this sturgeon skin from the Tropenhaus in Frutigen has a very special story behind it. The Tropenhaus (English: Tropic House) is a greenhouse at the cutting edge of experiments in renewable energy. In 2005-2007, the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (currently the world’s longest on land) was built to ease truck traffic on Swiss roads. An unfortunate side-effect of the tunnel was a large amount of continually flowing warm water. The water could not be redirected into the nearby river, as its relatively warmer temperature would disrupt the life cycle of endangered fish living there.

What to do? A bit of ingenuity to the rescue…instead of using energy to cool the water before passing it into the river, the Tropenhaus would use the warm water to power a greenhouse which could produce exotic fruit, sturgeon meat, and caviar.

Sabina, however, spotted a way the Tropenhaus could be made even more efficient (it’s already quite so). What were they doing with the skin from the sturgeons? It turns out they were just burning it.

Sturgeons are a bonefish, which means they don’t have any scales. And their skin is rather thick with a pleasant, cork-like feel — it has potential for a leather watch strap.

We are therefore doing a project with Sabina for her bachelor thesis to see if we can make leather watch straps from Tropenhaus sturgeon skin…stay tuned for the results!

Peter at work!

The titanium and silver cases for Ludwig Oechslin’s watches are machined by Peter Cantieni at his workshop in Hinwil, Switzerland. Peter’s main job is machining ultra-precise titanium parts for the Swiss Formula 1 team Sauber. He also machines tiny parts that function inside orbiting satellites and require tolerances of 3/1000th of a millimeter.

Peter’s machining and milling work for ochs und junior is so precise and aesthetic that we don’t polish away the mark of his tools. What you see on ochs und junior cases, buckles and crowns is the untreated metal exactly as it leaves Peter’s workshop. The resulting look is perhaps similar to the use of visible concrete in architecture.

Titanium case with visible machining, crown and buckle:

Multi-megabyte photos in the press area.

Mechanical watches can last a lifetime, because they are repairable. They need not become obsolete, be discarded in landfills, or expensively recycled like electronic watches, mobile phones and computers.

ochs und junior sells no more than 300 mechanical watches per year and is always looking for ways to benefit its customers and lessen its impact on the environment.

Earth Day, when events are held in 192 countries to show support for protecting the environment, seemed like the right time to share some of ochs und junior’s current efforts.

1. Simple cardboard flats for packaging.

ochs und junior watches come strapped to a cardboard flat instead of enclosed inside a large luxury display box, like other mechanical watches. This saves materials, and the cardboard is easy to recycle. Plus, customers pay for their watch, and not a fancy display box. The only other ochs und junior accessory is a leather travel pouch (more on the leather we use below).

1. Vegetable-tanned leather straps and pouches.

ochs und junior’s rhubarb-tanned leather straps and pouches are manufactured by IVN-certified Ecopell, and do not use heavy metals like chromium. Chromium is a common additive to leather watch straps which slows the aging process, but is a health hazard in high concentrations. ochs und junior’s vegetable-tanned leather straps and pouches are completely anti-allergic and age naturally — plus, no heavy metals need to be mined and recycled (or worse).

1. No printed catalogs.

ochs und junior communicates its product line on ochsundjunior.ch instead of with a printed catalog. This saves paper and ensures customers have the latest information. But it also means customers do not pay for any catalogs sent to potential customers in the price of their watch.

ochs und junior will continue seeking ways to benefit its customers that are mindful of the environment.

Earth Day

Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. Further information can be found on Wikipedia and Earth Day Network.

Ecopell

ochs und junior’s custom watch straps use Ecopell leather. Ecopell GmbH, based in Southern Germany, is the first leather maker to be certified according to the standard of the International Association of Natural Textile Industry (IVN). To receive certification, a leather manufacturer must pass a critical examination of every step in its leather-production process, from dyes to tanning agents to the environmental impact of its industrial processes.

Visitors to ochs und junior’s workspace in Lucerne will be able to try on:

• moon phase patina, which features a high-contrast dial executed entirely in one material: brass. Just two metals are visible on the watch — brass (all dial components including hands) and titanium (case, crown, buckle).
• new patina executions of Ludwig Oechslin’s annual calendar, date, and two time zones watches.
• early prototypes and custom color ochs und junior watches.

Lucerne is about a 1 hour trip from Basel either by train or car. Espresso from the 1966 Gaggia will be available throughout the day, as well as local bread and cheese.

Today, we updated our web page with lots of new photos of moon phase patina:

• New homepage image
• New moon phase design page section
• New gallery pictures
• New product details

ochs und junior moon phase patina titanium: CHF 8000
ochs und junior moon phase patina silver: CHF 10,000

The angled logo previously featured on our website was inspired by the brand stamp on the back of our watch straps.

We still brand (straps), stamp (cardboard), emboss (letters and cards), and hallmark (silver watch cases) this logo. Our new logo for web and printed material is horizontal, like the very first draft of Ludwig Oechslin, and features a new tagline:

“rigorously simple watches by Ludwig Oechslin” is our new tagline for the web and print.

Ludwig Oechslin’s watches for ochs und junior are simple, inside and out. Their simplicity comes from thinking through many considerations — reliability, accuracy, manufacturability, long-term usability. In other words, Ludwig Oechslin’s ochs und junior watches are “rigorously simple”.

2012 was a year of celebration! It was both eventful and exciting! For one thing, ochs und junior moved to Lucerne’s Zürichstrasse 49 and created the oxloft, where we have had the pleasure of welcoming a host of interesting people from near and far.

We are open between Christmas and the New Year for conversations, espresso, wine – and watches!

The oxloft is open as follows:

Saturday 22 December
Thursday 27 December – Saturday 29 December
Thursday 3 January – Saturday 5 January 2013

Normal opening hours resume from Monday 7 January 2013.
We can be reached via email throughout the festive period.

Have yourselves a great end to the year and an equally good start to 2013. Thank you so much for your continuing interest in ochs und junior!

Warm regards
Beat Weinmann

Once Ludwig Oechslin has finished conceptualizing his latest watch innovation in his head, he makes a few prelininary prototypes. Functionality, readability and contrast are important to him. Because he makes all his prototypes watches himself, he developed a process to enhance the look of their brass dials: he patinates them with a restoration product, after which he mills the indices for maximum contrast.

We decided to offer this process as an option – it involves no use of paint.

In the production watches, Peter Cantieni machines the dials at his workshop in Hinwil, hand-patinates them, then mills the indices (you’ll notice that this particular watch has double baton indices at 12 o’clock instead of the big dot representing the sun). The date disk at the back of the perforations is also fashioned from patinated brass, with the date dot milled to reveal the brass. The moon phase disk bearing the two moon images is – you guessed it – also patinated brass: the new moon has been milled, then repatinated to make it darker, while the full moon remains milled so you see the brass.

The seconds hand has also been patinated so as not to stand out from the dial – this focuses the attention  on the other two hands, which are also brass, but hand-satinated for perfect legibility.

The selene comes in a titanium or silver case (42 mm or 39 mm).

We’ll soon be showing it on our new website…

ochs und junior selene patina titanium:  CHF  8000
ochs und junior selene patina silver: CHF 10,000