day/night
Official press release.
LUCERNE, Switzerland—ochs und junior, the small watch company from Lucerne, introduces “day/night”, a new model with a function never before seen in a wristwatch. ochs und junior manufactures watches based on the inventions and ideas of the brilliant watchmaker and scientist Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.
The term “watchmaker” is too narrow when it comes to Professor Oechslin: he is a historian, an astronomer, and a doctor of theoretical physics, and he is known as one of the most brilliant watchmakers today. His unique specialty is the radical simplification of complex functions, both in terms of mechanics and of highly intuitive readability.
In his career which spans over 40 years, Dr. Oechslin has invented and developed the basis for countless revolutionary watch mechanisms. He achieved worldwide recognition with his Trilogy of Time, developed for Ulysse Nardin, with its sophisticated astronomical displays reduced all the way down to the size of a wristwatch. Additional “game changers” like the Freak or Ulysse Nardin’s Perpetual Calendar, are also the result of Oechslin’s work. Decades of studying astronomy, the laws of planetary motion, and micromechanics are the foundation of his unique mechanical solutions.
Two years ago, ochs und junior’s perpetual calendar created a stir among experts, because it requires only 12 custom-designed parts for such a complex function, contrasting starkly with the up to 180 and more parts some competitors’ creations need. The uniquely smart functional parts designed by Oechslin also make it easier to manufacture the watch and render setting it almost foolproof.
How long till sunrise? Is there enough daylight left for a little bike ride this evening? Where in the sky is the moon? The “day/night” answers all of these questions. The watch is yet another result of Oechslin’s intensive research. Besides displaying the time, the date, and the moon phase, it also shows at what time the sun will rise and set, plus the current positions of the sun and the moon. It shows all of this in an extremely simple manner that makes it intuitively readable and easy to set. ”Innovation is not just a hollow phrase to us, but the basis of our work,” explains CEO Beat Weinmann.
The exclusive manufacturer’s caliber UN-320 from Ulysse Nardin, with whom ochs und junior maintains a collaborative relationship, serves as the base movement. The entire mechanism is executed with just 13 additional parts.
An exact, localized day/night display
The sun and the moon move in a median time. This latter differs from the time zone time depending on one’s position. Sunrise and sunset will occur at different times in the same time zone. Simply put, the day/night difference is the more pronounced the further one moves away from the equator in geographic latitude. Using the button near the 6 o’clock marker, “true noon”, which depends on one’s longitude, can be set very simply. The same function is used to switch from daylight savings to standard time and back.
“Off the shelf” was yesterday’s solution
Like all watch models in the collection of this small manufacturer from Lucerne that calls itself – a little immodestly perhaps, but not without good reason – “the world’s most modern watch company”, the “day/night” allows customers to configure countless details for themselves. ”There are hardly two watches that leave our workrooms exactly the same,” says Weinmann. The foundation for this customization process is a clever online configurator unmatched in the industry. “Thanks to our proximity to our suppliers and our longstanding close collaboration with them, we can execute almost all requests that our customers approach us with,” Weinmann adds. If the requested configurations are a little too extreme, however, he discusses these choices directly with the customer and tries to prevent combinations that might be disadvantageous.
Since the lengths of day and night vary according to one’s position, the watch is manufactured specifically to the geographical latitude requested by the customer. This “position individualization” can be changed, should its wearer shift the center of their life, for example by moving from Helsinki to sunny California, by exchanging one single (!) adjusted gearwheel – a fact that illustrates how uniquely deliberate the mechanism is designed.
No middlemen
ochs und junior has no distributors’ network; all sales are made directly to the customer, mostly via order on the website. ”The retail trade unfortunately often lacks the competence to properly address customers’ needs. A radical product like our watches in particular requires a lot of knowhow to offer customers consultation of the quality and depth that we strive for.” The Lucerne company consciously accepts the consequences of that philosophy which renders it highly unlikely that they will become a big, global watch manufacturer. ”Yet we have customers from all over the world. Through extensive, straightforward and honest dialogue with them we earn their trust so that they can acquire a watch from us without having seen it on their own wrist,” Weinmann says, explaining the success of that unusual and courageous strategy.
The “day/night” can be customized on ochs und junior’s website starting on July 25th, 2018. Prices begin at CHF 14’850 (excluding Swiss VAT).
Further information on the website: