Chronoswiss Chronograph Wristwatches

Chronoswiss Timepieces – A Life Long Dream

Gerd-Rudiger Lang fulfilled a lifelong dream for himself when he finally built a generous factory for his brand on the outskirts of Munich. After this company’s modest beginnings in the basement of Lang’s family home there, he moved to rented premises on Elly-Staegmeyr-Strasse. Thanks to a stupendous period of growth that has lasted twenty years, the ‘man with the tick’ finally reached his most important finish line. Building this watch factory is akin to signing the ‘generational contract” for his family Lang and his daughter Natalie, the two managing directors, have their corner offices on the second floor across from each other. Both—father and daughter—have direct access to the company’s watchmaker workshops, and here, ideas and plans conceived by the lead duo are translated into watches. The production department has twelve workspaces where watchmakers assemble components delivered from Switzerland—completely in the tradition of the company—to make a ticking whole. The watchmaker workshops—both production and service—are not only outfitted with large windows on the outside walls to let light in, the walls separating the workshops also have large windows to let visitors observe the watchmakers at work without disturbing them.

With the factory now fully functional for more than a year, it was time for Lang’s creativejuices to begin flowing again—and this finds precise form in the brand’s latest creation, Zeitzeichen (German for “‘sign of the times”).

Chronoswiss Zeitzeichen – Landmark Timepieces

“The spirit of the Zeitzeichen series is truly unique,’ explains Hartmut Kraft, president of Chronoswiss’s new U.S. subsidiary. “Chronoswiss is teaming up with the best artisans in the industry to create landmark pieces that unite and embody the arts and crafts of centuries of watchmaking tradition. Instead of desperately seeking new ways to recreate something that has been around for a long time, Chronoswiss is taking a look back and bethinks itself of the true values of refining the various components of a mechanical wristwatch.”

The refining in this first series of Zeitzeichen models is done by master engraver, guillocheur, and skeletonizer Jochen Benzinger, an independent artisan who has earned the reputation of being one of the best in the world at the rare crafts he practices. His skeletonization work, which can also be described as the art of reducing a component or a movement to its bare minimum, lends a transparent, airy look. Benzinger generally combines this in his own unique way with engraving and guilloché to make the movement extremely decorative.

“The fact that they are highly collectible pieces limited to only thirty-three watches worldwide for each edition might be reason enough [for these wristwatches to find their own special niche],’ Kraft continues. ‘However there is also the irreplaceable luxury to muse over the entirely handcrafted intricacies of a Chronoswiss Zeitzeichen that is reserved for the very few that can afford the time to do so.”

The Chronoswiss Zeitzeichen models kick off an annual series with Benzinger Timepieces completed in conjunction with other artisans are scheduled to follow in the years to come.

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