Two New Settimanas

From ochs und junior -

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Two new takes on the settimana. The first is a black pvd dial with pink hands and day marker. This, as well as the brown and gold version are offered in a 36 mm titanium case.

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The brown pvd dial differs in that it also has indices for the hour markers. The dial is brown pvd with gold hued hands and day marker.

The movement is ETA's 2824-2 Top Grade.

Here are the pertinents:

settimana PVD in black and pink Weekday watch designed by Ludwig Oechslin | Display of hours, minutes, and seconds | Display of the 7 days of the week via a pink dot rotating clockwise between 1 and 7 o’clock | 36 mm case in grade 5 titanium | ETA 2824-2 top grade | Dial and weekday disc with black PVD coating | Weekday dot, hour, minute, and second hands in pink. Not customizable | Ecopell calf leather strap (S/M/L/XL) and leather pouch, handmade by Sabina Brägger. Availability and Price CHF 2300 – Export price CHF 2486 – Incl. 8.1% Swiss VAT

settimana PVD in brown and gold colors Weekday watch designed by Ludwig Oechslin | Display of hours, minutes, and seconds | Display of the 7 days of the week by means of a gold-colored dot rotating clockwise between 1 and 7 o’clock | 36 mm case in grade 5 titanium | ETA 2824-2 top grade | Dial and weekday disc with brown PVD coating | Indexes, weekday dot, hour, minute and second hands in gold tones. Not customizable | Beige textile strap (S/M/L/XL) and calf leather pouch, handmade by Sabina Brägger. Availability and Price CHF 2300 – Export price CHF 2486 – Incl. 8.1% Swiss VAT

Both anticipate shipping 8 weeks from date of order.

It's A Bit Special...

The ochs und junior settimana junior -

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Sometimes you get a second chance! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you one of my all-time favorite watches, the settimana junior from ochs und junior.

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Now those of you somewhat new to ochs und junior are acquainted with the settimana. what you might not realize is that the settimana is the second iteration of the original settimana, which was a "children's watch" designed for his daughter Flori. It made telling the time and understanding the days of the week a much easier proposition owing to the big bright numbers and the moving dot that indicated the seven days of the week. It also came with a really groovy comic from Sjoerd van Rooijen.

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Well, it's been a minute, but the joyful watch is back with a new name - the settimana junior.

And 15 years later? It's back!

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It ships with a copy of the original comic, and a really snazzy orange strap!

Priced at fairly accessible CHF 2400.00 — Export price
CHF 2594.40 — Incl. 8.1% VAT

Here are the pertinents -

Concept & Design

Ludwig Oechslin

Dimensions

Available in Ø 36; 10,8 mm thickness

Weight

55 Gram

Water Resistance

50m (5bar)

Case

Made from two parts designed by Ludwig Oechslin, available in grade 5 Titanium. Visible machining and milling traces

Base Movement 

ETA 2824-2 top grade, ETA SA, Grenchen Switzerland

Crown

Screw-down crown made of titanium, designed by Ludwig Oechslin

Buckle

22mm width in titanium designed by Ludwig Oechslin

Straps

Orange Ecopell leather strap handmade by Sabina Brägger

Glass

Sapphire crystal

Night visibility

Swiss Super-LumiNova®, applied by Monyco SA,
La Chaux-de-Fonds

Swiss Made

The settimana is made in Switzerland and assembled and hand regulated by ochs und junior in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Warranty

The entire watch is covered by a 2-year guarantee.
 
settimana junior comic booklet

Sjoerd van Rooijen, first edition 2009, second and third
edition 2012 / 2024

New Release: ochs und junior settimana classic black

Note: Our contributor and former Managing Editor, James Henderson, has taken on a consulting role with Ochs und Junior. He is not involved in any Tempus Fugit activity related to brands with which consults, including this article.

Following the launch of its Settimana Classic White in November 2021, innovative Swiss brand ochs und junior is expanding its non-customizable offerings with the Settimana Classic Black. 

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Like it’s white counterpart, the Settimana Classic Black features a a 7-day module developed by Ludwig Oechslin. On the dial, the days of the week are displayed in a minimalist fashion by a black dot seen through one of seven apertures—one for each day of the week  and the end of the week, the dot quickly traces a longer arc, returning to the one o’clock Monday aperture  (the watch below shows Wednesday).

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The watch features the same stark case design seen on all the brand’s models, here rendered in grade 5 titanium. It will be available in both 40mm and 36mm. You’ll have the option of either baton markers or Arabic numerals in either case size.

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While ochs und junior is known for the ability to customize a model ad infinitum, the ochs und junior Settimana Classic Black is another addition to the brand’s lineup of models with set designs; no customization is available. What you get is a watch with clear ochs und junior DNA: aggressive in its simplicity with a novel weekday module. I’d venture a guess that this will be an even better seller than the white option. The Settimana Classic Black will be offered at CHF 2,600 (CHF 2,400 excluding VAT) with a lead time of 8-12 weeks. You can learn more here. 

The settimana next

From ochs und junior -

Courtesy of ochs und junior

*Editor's Note - James Henderson has recently begun working with ochs und junior in a consulting capacity. As such, this is strictly a reposting of press information, and will contain no opinion/recommendation/review.

The settimana next is housed in a grade 5 titanium case. The movement is Sellita’s SW 200-1, and the weekday module is Ludwig Oechslin’s own design. The color way was conceived by Ludwig Oechslin's daughter, Cajetana Oechslin. The textile strap and leather pouch are both provided by Sabina Brägger.  

This is a non-customizable watch, available in either 36mm -

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or 40 mm -

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Priced at CHF 2’500 — incl. 7.7% VAT. 

CHF 2’300 — Export price. 

Here are the pertinents -

settimana next - 36 mm

• Weekday watch designed by Ludwig Oechslin 
• A violet dot moves clockwise across the 7 blue “weekday” dots (starting at the 1 o‘clock position and ending at the 7 o‘clock position) highlighting the specific day of the week
• Grade 5 Titanium case 
• Sellita SW 200-1 
• Black dial 
• Hour, minute and second hands with Swiss Super-LumiNova® in white 
• available in two sizes:
• Ø 36 mm and Ø 40 mm 
• Non customizable 
• Black textile strap and leather pouch handmade by Sabina Brägger.

Maybe You Can Go Home Again - The Continuing Evolution of ochs und junior

So right off the bat, I need to stress that this is an opinion piece. And as I have been informed more than once - "Opinions are like backsides, everyone's got one, and some truly stink."

Having said that, I got a chance to read a piece that was forwarded to me from Watch Around, a Swiss based watch magazine. In it, Kornelia Imesch shares a lot of the answers to what many of us who write about these things have been wondering - what has been happening, and what's next? In the article, Ms Imesch clearly outlines what could be viewed as the 3 phases of ochs und junior -

The foundation period - this involving Ludwig Oechslin, BeatWeinmann and Kurt König (the owner of Embassy, the Lucerne based jewelry store that Beat Weinmann was working for at the time). The latter part of this period is when I discovered ochs und junior, and curious to relate? It was due to an article in... Watch Around! At that time there were, essentially 2 ochs und junior watches.

The Growth Period - this was when Ulysse Nardin was brought in as a partner (and I will presume, funder), Embassy let ochs und junior go, and to a certain extent Beat Weinmann was fully in charge to run the day to day.

The NOW Period - and this is what answered a big question for me, who owns it? Well, that would be Kornelia Imesch, a certain legend in watch making that you may have heard of - Ludwig Oechslin, and family. Yes, that last word you have correctly, 2 of the "juniors" have decided to join the now fully family owned ochs und junior.

Now I will be the first to say that I have found the communication coming out of ochs und junior for the past 5 years more than a little bit baffling. But I also think, in fairness, that the past 3 years in particular were probably a key time where the past, present and future were in some ways colliding. 

ochs und junior surely did inspire a lot of passion from collectors (they wanted to own one), journalists (it was a fun story) and retailers (they were desperate to sell it). But passion alone does not a watch brand make. And that is I think the piece that a lot of my erstwhile colleagues in the Fourth and Fifth Estate have lost touch with, because what was actually stirring that passion was amazing products. And the other thing that they have lost track of is that at the heart of ochs und junior are the ideas that come to life in the watches. Those ideas, curious to relate, are STILL embodied in the watches being produced by ochs und junior because (spoiler alert), Ludwig Oechslin is STILL bringing those ideas to life.

To that end, two "newish" models have been released that actually harken back to the foundation of ochs und junior all those years ago. The Settimana which we covered here -

http://www.tempusfugit.watch/2021/01/the-settimana-limited.html

And something really special, the calendario cent’anni, or “cca” -

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It is available in 3 different dial versions - 2 in black (above and below) -

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And white -

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In their own words, here is a basic primer from ochs und junior -

100-year calendar designed by Ludwig Oechslin | dial with indication of hours, minutes and seconds in addition to correct date (28, 29, 30 or 31 days), month, leap or non-leap year | Arabic character or indices with hour/minute hands with Swiss Super-LumiNova® coating | 40mm grade 5 titanium case |  Ulysse Nardin UN-320 | Available in 3 versions

This is currently a preorder item.

Now for all of those lamenting the change in staff, and the change in location, I get it. Change is hard, it's scary and it is something that most of us tend to avoid with as much energy as possible. But then again, change is necessary and inevitable. Full credit to everyone who played a part in the creation, birth and growth of ochs und junior. But truth be told, the future has yet to be written, and I for one am curious to see what ochs und junior has in store. They say you can't go home again, but then again, maybe you can.