Charismatic Presence

A. Lange & SÖhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid has never had a dull day in charge of the manufacture. He tells us what it takes for a watch to have real charm

- Ashok Soman

There are some personalities in the watch trade who are always entering our orbit. The two CEOs we profile elsewhere in this section are cases in point, but A. Lange & Söhne presents a rare counterpoint. Over the years, we have featured the instantly recognisable Tino Bobbi and the charismatic Anthony de Haas many times. Somehow though, the top gun, Mr Wilhem Schmid, has always eluded us; indeed, not since Jerome Lambert was CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Söhne have we managed to grab any official face time with the top executive at the Glashütte company. Happily, that changed this year, and thus we have to spend a little more time here to introduce Schmid.

After eight years at the helm of A. Lange & Söhne – he replaced Lambert, who is now Richemont CEO – Schmid is certainly no stranger to watch collectors around the world. While A. Lange & Söhne is still not a powerhouse on the order of Patek Philippe for example, the standard-bearer for German fine watchmaking has built up an admirable cachet in the 25 years since it relaunched. The recently released anniversary watches showcase this.

Today, A. Lange & Söhne is still a very small production firm, producing just about 5,000 watches annually. Schmid is very clear that he does not see that changing at all, which is entirely in-line with the expectations of collectors. At the same time, Schmid is passionate about the art and craft of watchmaking itself, and in drawing connections between the world of horology and other areas, especially cars. This is only to be expected as Schmid was an executive at BMW prior to joining A. Lange & Söhne, and watch collectors of a certain stipe have always been drawn to both cars and watches.