Ben Clymer Presents: Ep. 06 - The Lange Episode With Wilhelm Schmid 

Best brand CEO interview I’ve ever listened too. “Our watches are handmade Ben” Wilhelm says with a bit of attitude. Fantastic!

Best episode so far, finally some real substance. I love this CEO, great ambassador for Lange, truly inspiring

This is a great conversation. I like the clarity and sincerity of his responses.

Total respect for Wilhelm Schmid and the Lange brand.. this is why i am a proud owner of a Zeitwerk Date and the Lange 1 perpetual Calendar pink dial,.And even though after spending a fortune on the brand what Wilhelm says means i am still not eligible for some pieces , i understand the situation and repect what he says even when it is sometimes frustrating. Brilliant interview , cant imagine another brand being so open.

Ben working OT to keep hodinkee afloat 😂

Lange is in my opinion one of the most innovative watch brand regarding the past 20 years. And the best in class regarding movements and finishing. Thanks for this great interview.

I appreciate the length of Ben's socks. Well played Ben. Well played.

Yes yes yes, best episode so far… only Hodinkee through Ben can give us this caliber of guests and perspective on the GIANTS of the industry.

I love this brand. Their quality and finishing is perfect

Hodinkee are back, hoenstly. Amazing, content!

Wilhelm Schmidt is probably the most honest CEO in the watch industry

I respect Ben trying to get concrete answers.

Hodinkee is been taking beating for the stuff they put out lately but credit where credit is due, this was great conversation and they even managed to snuck in some pictures of the watches that they were talking about which is always welcome. Very well Hodinkee 👍

Best interview, great guy, awesome brand… more of this and Hodinkee will be able to rehire a couple people

Snoop said it best: “Hodinkee without Ben is like Harold Melvin without the Bluenotes, you’ll never go Platinum!” GREAT to see Ben back in the mix. He IS Hodinkee.

BRILLIANT interview, the right questions and Wilhelm sets the record straight because I’ve heard the collectors side and this balances it. It’s makes me appreciate the brand and consider finding the right Lange for me. I had purchased secondhand a fantastic 1815 Annual but I found it hard to read the date and had to pay a tax bill. It went to a great collector. I hope to be able to buy another Lange soon and keep it forever. I’ve never been but welcome at the HK boutique btw, I got to discover the honey gold split (congrats Ben) and the Odysseus white gold which Wilhelm has just convinced me to give another look at. I like how the brand is de facto forced to limited production and product cycle. Keep it classy and buck the hype. A friend worked hard on getting his steel Odysseus and doesn’t dare wearing it. What a shame. I’d wear it at the beach personally. Especially since Lange service will always bring the watches back to fresh condition.

As it's been said already, this is really a fantastic interview. Well done by Ben and Mr. Schmid.

I appreciate the honest in this interview. And as someone who just acquired a zeitwerk from a boutique and is now allocated an odysseus in early 2025, everything he said tracks. The closest boutique is 5 hours or a short flight away, so it did take several visits when I was in the area for work, over a year and half period, for the manager to vet me as serious and offer me one. And then it was another 8 months from there until it was ready for pick up 😂

Best episode by far. GREAT questions Ben!! VERY interesting

Wonderful interview Ben. The only subject not covered was retirement of models. Patek does this regularly to preserve value of its model lines. The current sales model Lange employees demands loyalty and punishes grey market activity. Where as Patek benefits from grey market valuations over time. The grey market has a place in the watch world. I don’t sell my watches but economics dictates the natural occurs of a grey market. The bundling question is still a sore spot for customers. It drives potential ones away. Love the Brand but not the expectation to sell me a watch that I do not want in order to get one that I do want.

Excellent video and thanks for asking some of the tough questions that the community is curious about. Can you do one video just on watches by fashion/Jewellers brands, Bulgari, Chanel, LV, Piaget, etc.

Thoroughly enjoyed this interview. As a 24 year old, I’m yet to delve into Lange but this was engaging throughout.

this was awesome! just got my 3rd.....cant wait for next year to see what they come out with.

The best episode of this series by far

Great interview with a great CEO. His responses to some penetrating questions were on point and reflect a reasonable if not admirable brand philosophy. They also come across as genuine and with no holding back. If your brand is doing something right and you are a watch collector you will have to wait and make difficult choices. If the brand is of the caliber such as ALS, which is quite unique actually, then the brand will need to make equally difficult choices in how they manage and expand their customer base. I for one do not want to see ALS “lose themselves”, as Herr Schmidt says, in pursuit of a populist strategy. And whatever I end up being able to acquire will be all the more appreciated, even if I’m also somewhat limited.

Wow, they will qualify you as being good enough to buy one of their watches. Congrats

Such a down to earth attitude, love him and the brand

Lange Brand Mission: force sell dress watches to people that want its sports watch. Thank you Ben for asking the hard questions!

I think Wilhelm meant 'You can't make a Tomlette without destroying a few Gregs' 😂

love this...

Any AD of expensive goods, especially in this case, watches, should have any product within their collection for a fair ( 0 - 6 months) delivery time. As a watch collector, I have often bought other watches/brands due to silly and long delivery schedules. This is not a win-win for any brand (Rolex can you hear me). Thanks for a great interview and yes, I have two Lange and love them.

fav brand, bucket list

Really hoping to learn why is a ALS deployant so expensive. Multiple times what others using the same supplier ask for.

I love and collect Lange. And I get it. 5000pieces only so they want to squeeze every possible money out of that. I have 9 collected and never sold one. So - who is passionated and who is after the money here? The only think I can agree on with Herr Schmid - the white gold on the rubber is also my favorite Odysseus 😂

I understand that i need to "work hard" to get promoted at work. So in this case I need to "shown you the money" hard enough to get promoted on that list. I am certain that regardless of how passionate i am for ALS that they will gladly sell to someone richer than I. So when rich people want something, they expect priority. Rich people seem to value having the power to get something others can't. Money is not enough, power is what the rich are truely after. Then they complain when they dont get what they want.... 🤔 So I want to start a relationship with an Odysseus, and you won't sell it to me. However, I do understand ALS trying to cater to their affluent customers with the 5k units they build. If their watches are not exclusive and desirable then the competition has a opportunity.

Classic Halloway move!

Greed is the real reason for the boutiques. The customer experience is not better and the staff is not as knowledgeable as Herr Schmid wants to make us believe. I am sure the trend for boutiques and boutique only models will collapse sooner or later. For me as a collector it is much better to have multiple brands so that I can compare.

There was a used 1815 in a shop where I trade. It looked a bit worn but they wanted new price for it. Why should I pay new price for a used watch when I could get a new one from a boutique? The 1815 has the look I like best but I wanted an 1815 up down. None was available. I bought the 1815 from Zadok in Huston. I asked about a Saxonia ultra thin with the blue sparkle dial and they put me on a list. After I saw another interview where the president of Lange said he was going to concentrate on the more complicated watches in the future, I lost hope for the Saxonia . Not long after that Zadok called me and had one. I bought It ! I have never been to the Zadok store but the people I dealt with there by phone are very nice. I rarely ware the Saxonia Ultra Thin. It is a special occasion watch to me and there are very few of those in my life now. If I bought another Lange it should be in a smaller size for a lady but with a GMT hand. For myself, I would trade in both of my watches for a Richard Lange “Pour le Merite”. But with Honey Gold case. I know the Richard Lange is styled after the Observation watches but I still prefer the Arabic numbers of the 1815. The Roman numerals seem too large for the dial to me. The 1815 isn’t the fanciest watch but I like it better than some of the more expensive ones.

Can't go wrong with a Lange 1...

9 seconds into the video and we have Ben's casual shoe right in the middle of the screen, and it stays there for most of the show 40 minutes later, Herr Schmid, a proper gentleman, still hasn't lifted his feet from the floor. He embodies Lange und Söhne so well.

I love the the pieces from this brand, but cannot stand to have a conversation with its representatives or its boutiques. They make my stomach turn with the games they play. Why should I buy an $80k piece I don’t want just for the outside chance on a piece I do want when the secondary market premium on the piece I want is at or only slightly above retail? This kind of BS only serves to drive customers away from the brand and into the secondary market.

What is he on about? There are Langes on Jomashop.

So they want to avoid watch-flippers, because they don't appreciate the product and just want to make money. But what about the "real" collector, that keeps the watch for 5, 10 or more years, but puts in in a safe, never wears it (and thus robs another enthusiast of the chance to enjoy the watch) ... and THEN puts the watch in an auction. Why should that be OK?

bundling is common throughout Asia for Lange in boutiques, total BS if otherwise is said regardless of from/by whom

“If you’re in an emergency situation and need to sell a watch, [call us for permission].” I hate this era of watch collecting.

You have the guy dressed professionally in a suit, and then you have a guy mismatched with rolled up jeans needs to tell you exactly what hipsters run this company.

His narrative on "oh our watches are so sought after and it sells above retail" etc is getting old...Its true models like the Odysseus does yes, but those days are long gone where lange dress watches are trading above retail, most are like 30-35% off...(Yes i know, not the honey gold, lumen etc).

Like Omega have more Limited Edition on offer than non LE😂

Is it me or should screws on watches be symmetrical.

Their datigroah goes beyond retail .. who cares !! Are they tripping balls ?

“Somebody” is trustworthy … what a joker … is he trustworthy

Good news… nobody is buying Lange and trying to flip for a 40% loss, haha. Lange doesn’t have to worry about flippers.

Herr Schmid is pretty loosey goosy with the term "gray" market. Gray market watches are unworn watches with unactivated warranties that were sold to nonAD's by AD's looking to offload excess inventory. There is essentially no more gray market for Lange watches since they shut down most AD's. What's left is "used". Except dealers don't like that term because it devalues their product. Now he goes on to say, they try to get their watches into hands of people that are true collectors who don't care about secondary market prices because they won't sell. So why is he so concerned with used prices? Because if used prices are close to retail, it lets them sell watches at full retail from boutiques at no discount. Next he discusses why bundling is ridiculous, but in the next breath he says "build a relationship". Cognitive dissonance on full display!. "build a relationship" is code for buy a bunch of watches that you're luke warm on to get the piece you really want. Which is basically bundling over a multiyear period, but in some ways bundling is better because it's transparent. With "build a relationship" its more like buy this now and maybe we'll sell you this later. They could discourage flipping by not honoring the warranty if the papers are not in your name. Or engrave the owners initials on the case somewhere, in addition to blacklisting have the buyer sign a non-binding show of good faith that you won't sell the watch or invite the owner to watch events and ask them to wear the watch. This whole build a relationship stuff is the worst part of the multibrand retailer experience brought into the boutique. No one likes AP boutiques or Watches of Switzerland unless you're an NBA player for AP or IG influencer for WoS. About a year ago a spreadsheet of Lange's allocation algorithm was leaked. It was clear that lumens and honeygolds and odyseus went to the highest bidders. I'm sure they're making lots of money and doing well, but at some point many will be soured by this.

Copied AP business model

But it will take to follow the AP business model as they had the royal oak .. a Lange is still a dress watch watch company and with those hideous Sinn cases and braclet from brogionili they will never get anywhere .. yeah datograoh is nice and 1815 chrono also are nice but majority of people will never buy it … so they are limited to very small customer group .. and they won’t buy 5 langes like they do with Patek to get noutalis .. so unless they make new bracelet watches they will never see success.. also the after sale game they suck as you have to wait half a year … soon people will stop buying watches to make money on speculation and they will be left in a decline of demand and production will be even more expensive

What a snoozer.

I still don’t get how people lead high caliber international brands like this and have such weak language skills.