I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
Dr. Ludwig Oechslin is a genius.
Sure, he might dress eccentrically and have a quirky personality, but that only serves to enhance his reputation as a watchmaking mastermind. Responsible for most of Ulysse Nardin’s ground-breaking complications, including the Trilogy of Time, the Freak and UN’s Perpetual Calendar, Oechslin also has his own brand, ochs und junior, focusing on simplicity. For example, two years ago he introduced a perpetual calendar needing only 12 parts for this complicated function, where other designs require 180 or more parts.
Now, Oechslin has turned his searing intellect to the display of day and night. The result is the day/night watch – displaying the time, the date, and the moon phase, while also showing at what time the sun will rise and set, plus the current positions of the sun and the moon, in a way never seen before.
All done in a simple and intuitive way, so it’s easy to read and easy to set.
”Innovation is not just a hollow phrase to us, but the basis of our work,” explains ochs und junior CEO Beat Weinmann.
The base movement for the day/night watch is the UN-320 from Ulysse Nardin. The entire day/night mechanism requires just 13 additional parts.
Based in Lucerne, Switzerland, ochs and junior has no retail network, instead all sales are done directly with the customer. As sunrise and sunset times, as well as length of days and the position of the moon and sun, varies depending on location, each day/night timepiece is customized for the owner’s location, via the website (ochsundjunior.swiss. A great deal more can also be customized on the website as well, including hands, metals, color, straps, engravings and more.
The ochs und junior day/night takes a complicated idea and makes it simple, easy to use, read and understand.
Simply genius.
