Baselworld 2019: Interview with Chronoswiss CEO Oliver Ebstein

BASELWORLD 2019

Chronoswiss can look back on an eventful history. Founded by Gerd-Rüdiger Lang in Munich in the 1980s and in the midst of the quartz crisis, it was certainly not an easy start. Nevertheless, Lang managed to establish himself internationally with a lot of willpower and unique watches. It was also under his leadership that the design traits, which are so typical today, were created. They still run like a common thread through the Chronoswiss collections today: Characteristics such as onion crowns, screwed-in strap lugs and fluted bezels make Chronoswiss watches recognizable at first glance. In the “House of Chronoswiss” in Lucerne, these rare watchmaking skills, such as enamelling, guilloche or skeletonizing, can be admired live. 

In 2012, Oliver and Eva-Maria Ebstein took over the company’s management and ever since mastered a successful balancing act between tradition and modernity. Regulator watches continue to be the company’s most frequently sold watches, but as we learned in our interview at Baselworld 2019, they are constantly being further developed. Without a doubt, this year’s highlight is the Flying Grand Regulator Open Gear Retrograde Second “ResSec” watch. The stainless steel case with “electrifying blue” DLC coating has a hand-guilloched dial, extreme luminosity in the dark due to Superluminova blocks and a blue rotor. In addition, there are also new entry-level regulators to give watch-enthusiastic millennials access to these masterpieces.