New brand from Ludwig Oeschslin called 'Ochs und Junior'

[IanS]

I am happy to lift the veil of fog over this image to reveal the image below.


Ludwig Oeschslin proudly holding one of the first prototypes of his new 'Ochs und Junior' brand.

Timm Delfs was at the low-key launch of the brand and brings us this exclusive report.

Ludwig Oechslin launches 'Ochs und Junior' by Timm Delfs

To some people, it was clear from the start that a inventive genius like Ludwig Oechslin would not content himself with being the curator of a watch museum
deep in the Jura mountains, cataloging and restoring old clocks and watches. However, launching his own brand, was completely unexpected!



.
On Sunday, October 19th, the secret was unveiled to a very restricted circle consisting mainly of staff of Embassy jewelers in Lucerne, Switzerland. The reason
for this was that Embassy will be the sole retailer to carry Oechslin’s watches - Embassy and Ludwig Oechslin are equal partners in the project.


Beat Weinmann from Embassy, an equal partner in the project. Beat was also instrumental in project managing and funding the MIH watch and is a
big supporter of independent watchmakers.

It was Oechslin’s son Giorgio who came up with the idea of the brand’s name: ‘Ochs und Junior’. “At first I thought it was just too silly. Of course my
son thought he might be in the project at some stage”, says Oechslin. In German Oechslin is means ’small Ox, and in this light the name is rather more fitting.



(above) A few of the first Ochs und Junior prototypes

Ochs und Junior presented two models that are scheduled to be delivered early 2009.

The first watch is the Anno 50, which is an annual calender.

The second watch is a timepiece conceived for children. It’s called ’Settimana Junior’. “I was thinking of a complication made to measure a child’s time horizon,
which I presumed would be about one week”, Oechslin explains. So he equipped a ladies-sized automatic watch with a display that indicates the
day of the week. . . with a twist. No words are displayed, only a semicircle of dots that indicate in turn what position/day of the week you are in.

The Settimana Junior has a 36mm titanium case and a rubber strap to make it as bullet proof/child proof as possible.

During the night, from Sunday to Monday the owner can observe the dot moving and crossing a curved line at a higher pace than usual.
“But only if the parents allow him or her to stay up” adds Oechslin. The watch comes in a steel case and a leather strap (presumably from an Ox ).


Peter Cantieni (left), produces the cases and Paul Gerber (right) is responsible for developing and producing the watches.



The “Anno” is a true collector’s item. It features an entirely new Paul Gerber automatic calibre and an annual calendar
of the kind Oechslin is famous for, i.e. simplified to the extreme and needing only three moving parts.



As on “Settimana Junior” the additional indications for day, date and month are provided by round openings in the dial behind which a dot
indicates the information. “You will get used to it very quickly”, Oechslin assures those who looked at the face of the watch questioningly.
One thing is obvious: there won’t be any need to translate the names of weekdays and the months into different languages.

The movement is inserted into a massive, engine-turned and machined silver case with an integral bezel. The dial and oscillating mass are
heat treated to obtain a beautiful grey colour- ‘ochsidised’ one is tempted to say. “I have achieved a very effective automatic winding of the two barrels”
is all the modest Paul Gerber says about his new movement, though it does feature a beautiful precision adjustment on the balance cock.
Despite Gerber’s modesty, we can rest assured that the movement offers much more.



Neither watches features a brand name on the dial. However, they are branded in the true sense of the word as their leather straps bear a logo
that is imprinted in the same manner as cowboys brand their cattle.

To stay learn more, please check out www.ochsundjunior.ch

[pj.m]

thank you ian, i really like the straps he is using. also, the movement on the settimana junior is so elegant. very simple yet highly finished and refined. any pictures of the dial?

[ei8htohms]

Thanks Ian and Timm,

This is a very cool project and I look forward to seeing more pictures of the watches. Thanks!

_john

[Curtis]

Hi Ian,

The Gerber/Oechslin collaboration continues... Thanks for bringing us this news. I look forward to more details.

Cheers,

Curtis

[Quarks]

Finally. Thanks for that. Interesting watches and would love to see more pictures of them. I'm trying to warm up to them as they are not my kind of preference in terms of aesthetics. The movement looks extremely clean in design, very simplistic and yet very appealing at the same time.

[DaveB]

Ian - Thanks.

Very timely news. My daughter will turn 5 in a few weeks. She has been fascinated with my watches and loves my Gerber retrograd. She loves to watch the 60 second retrograde snap-back. I am really pleased to hear about the Settimana Junior and the collaboration with Paul Gerber.

My daughter understands time in relationship to events, i.e., it is 2 hours before I go to bed not 6 o'clock. Minutes are the most important time interval. Anything beyond a few days is a year away. She is just starting to read an analog watch and relating it to the week with a structure of dots is a great idea. I like the Ox strap and the branding (as long as I can write her name and contact information on the inside of the strap in case it gets lost). My concern is kids watches need to be bullet proof and not so expensive that loosing them will cause them grief (or the parents too).

Look forward to hearing more.

DaveB

[IanS]

and light but strong 36mm titanium case to make them as childproof as possible.

She will be ready for a Panerai or a URWERK when she is ten!

[DaveB]

36mm is now considered a child's size watch!

You can tell they understand children. I found out that the name and information of your child can be engraved on the back of the watch. That is really a nice touch. I picked my daugher up from school and she was missing a shoe. I can't just imagine what would happen with a watch...

DaveB

[divineComedy]

Interesting!!!...
Now I know why you didn't respond to my post in the previous thread, Ian!.
MY congratulations to Dr. Oechislin and the Team...
It would be interesting to learn more about Anno 50. I am wondering wats "50" for...
And have you learnt about packaging? Knowing Dr. Oechislin it shall have its story and a statement too.
Thanks,
cheers,
K.

love Mr. Peter Cantieni's side profile...