NATIVE SÖHNE

A. Lange & Söhne Head of Manufacturing Tino Bobe completes our troika of conversations with veterans at the brand. His passion for the Glashütte brand and the novelties of 2021 are unmistakable and indispensable

- ASHOK SOMAN

This is really our first issue for the year, dominated as it is with 2021 watches. As such, this is not the place to look for trends and lengthy diatribes (if you enjoy those, we still stock them but they have more to do with watches in general, not just novelties). Having said that, you have found one of a couple of pieces that are a bit different. The Summer issue completes a rather unusual troika relating to one specific brand: A .Lange & Söhne. If you are a regular reader (or if you are reading this online), you will have noticed that we brought you conversations with Wilhelm Schmid and Anthony de Haas - CEO and Head of Product Development, respectively - within the last 12 months. Ordinarily we would have stopped right there because we do care a little bit about balance in our coverage. When Watches & Wonders rolled around, we were set to avoid full A. Lange & Söhne interview pieces...until the manufacture offered us half-an-hour with Tino Bobe, the Head of Manufacturing at the German brand.

The last time we featured Bobe, it was 2019 right after the SIHH fair, and that alone might have justified our decision to do the interview. If you know anything about A. Lange & Söhne, and have followed the brand for a few years, you will have realised that senior management tends to stick around for the long haul here. This is remarkable, with Schmid having the shortest tenure of the top executives, at just over 10 years. We talked with both Schmid and de Haas about this but we really wanted to get into it with Bobe, who is a 20-year veteran with the firm. Only Arnd Einhorn, the head of communications, has been with A. Lange & Söhne longer (by perhaps a year, Bobe reckons).