Precision in Every Tick: How Lang & Heyne Crafts Mechanical Masterpieces by Hand

Jens Schneider stands there with a piece of cloth in his hand and polishes a milling machine. The cleaning lady has left a water stain on it. The cast-iron apparatus is from the 19th century and could actually still be used, says Schneider and immediately begins to explain how it works. And if anybody knows that, he does. The 58-year-old is a kind of guru of mechanical watches on the international watch scene.

Whoever enters the reception room of Lang & Heyne in Radeberg near Dresden might get the impression that this company has been around for generations. But it was only in 2001 that Marco Lang founded it and in 2003 he launched his first self-developed watch on the market. Last year, Jens Schneider took over as head of the development department and has since been the boss of 21 employees.

Very special watches are made here – small numbers of small works of art that delight connoisseurs of watches and collectors all over the world.

But, as Schneider’s spontaneous lecture at the milling machine makes clear, first and foremost he is a watchmaker. You can see that he likes to stand at the workbench and build a watch himself. He smiles and, in all modesty, is the face of Lang & Heyne. Yet he makes little fuss about his person. He does not even seem to notice how much authority he exudes through his knowledge. Nor does he seem a bit impatient when he explains in a concentrated manner how his watches work, what a three-quarter plate is and what function the 19 embedded rubies have. That technology can be beautiful at the same time, or vice versa, that beauty can do so much, is what makes for a fulfilled life according to Jens Schneider. He describes the construction of a clockwork in great detail. How the gears mesh, where it is important to reduce the friction caused by the vibrations and when the spring wants to relax and how this helps to transform the movement from slow to fast. 

Schneider learned his craft in Glashütte, the Saxon centre of watchmaking. He was one of the first employees to experience the refoundation of the renowned watch manufacturer Lange & Söhne after the fall of the wall. For many years, he developed new models there, until he set up his own workshop. There was enough work. After all, watches have a long tradition in Saxony.

It all began in the 17th century with the Elector of Saxony, August the Strong. He loved astronomy, which attracted experts, so one thing led to another. Even today, there are still many specialists such as engravers, enamelers and finishers around Dresden with Glashütte as the centre.

At Lang & Heyne, one is aware of the tradition of Saxon craftsmanship: The first watches were developed according to the models of old pocket watches from the 19th century. The price range extends from 21,500 to over 200,000 euros.The fact that the watches still do not look like museum pieces is due to the modern and precise craftsmanship.

Even though the company is located in a listed mill – Lang & Heyne does not indulge in nostalgia. Two ultra-modern CNC milling machines are situated directly behind the reception room.

On the wall there are long steel rods from which tiny screws are later turned. In the former dance hall – the Ullersdorf mill was once a restaurant – the two largest machines stand directly under a chandelier.

This is where Sven Meyer is just looking at the round main plates that he has taken out of his CNC milling machine. He checks whether all the indentations, grooves and holes have been worked accurately so that the many individual parts can later be arranged on the plate like a puzzle. The construction drawing of a new watch is enough for him and his colleague to program the computer. “I am the machine,” says Meyer. Since 2005, the CNC technician has been spending eight hours with it every day.

His colleague Annett Böttner sits in a small cubbyhole and enamels discs only 9.5 millimetres in diameter and 0.5 millimetres high. It takes a day to create the world map with time zones in green, blue and gold for the Moritz watch on this tiny surface. Again and again the colours have to be fired in a small oven.

On the first floor, where guests once stayed, the work becomes even more difficult. Here the watchmakers sit at high workbenches. With the naked eye, the 0.3 millimetre wide screw, which is clamped in a metal gripping tool, is hardly visible. A watchmaker looks through a microscope while she polishes the screw with wax. If it is built into the clockwork, not even the slightest scratch should be visible. Therefore, it takes up to 45 minutes to finish grinding and polishing a screw.

Lang & Heyne polishes a lot, and not just to make everything shine. First of all Jens Schneider has to explain the difference between gloss and brilliance. The former the object always has, no matter how you twist and turn it. But brilliance is more: depending on the light and angle, the surface shines brightly or is dark, but for this it must be absolutely smooth. Another employee is responsible for the absolute smoothness of the curved hands. He rubs them with circular movements over a tin paste that he has applied to a small metal block.

The biggest challenge for this luxury is the number of pieces. Each watch is manufactured only after the order is placed, 50 pieces are sold annually by Lang & Heyne to connoisseurs worldwide. The watches are so elaborate in the production that more was simply not possible until now. For a watch with three hands a watchmaker needs up to three months, for one with date and moon phases even half a year. The Augustus, a custom-made mechanical calculating machine with display of individual birthdays and anniversaries, takes a year and a half to leave the workshop.

Jens Schneider says: “There are two types of watch buyers: those who are only interested in the brand and those who are enthusiastic about technology.” There is no question that Lang & Heyne customers fall into the second category.

The watches can be recognised by their special details. The bracelet is connected to the watch by three lugs, the screws are tin-polished and some are tempered deep blue, the hands are handmade, the dials are enamelled, the movement is made of rose gold. And then there is the back of the watch, which is as important as the dial. That is why all Lang & Heyne watches have a glass bottom, so you can follow every movement .

Jens Schneider now wants to work with the already established watches, disassemble and reassemble each specimen to see how he and his young team can make it even better, and then soon tackle a new watch: the first one by Jens Schneider for Lang & Heyne.

This text was first published in the printed version of 30 Grad in spring 2020.