WorldTempus: Can you explain how you come to be here at the Grand Opening of the House of Chronoswiss in Lucerne?
Thomas Gottschalk: I was familiar with Gerd-Rüdiger Lang because I remember seeing him at the wheel of his Jaguar XK120 in the Chronoswiss advertisement. I met him because I wanted a Chronoswiss watch I had seen in a very special colour, but he said he did not have it any more. But he said he could do one more for me and he made one with my initials on it.
If you collect watches as I do then you often trade them, but if you have one with your initials on it then you will never give it away. So the relationship has lasted ever since. I was in Salzburg earlier this week listening to Il Trovatore and I will be seeing a Puccini opera tomorrow so I am in a classical mood and it’s nice to have a watch day in between.
Does this classical mood reflect your taste in watches?
I’m a classic myself unfortunately. Nowadays people use their phones to tell the time and twenty years ago quartz watches were fashionable. It’s like me, nobody wants to watch me anymore because I would have Elton John or Tina Turner on my shows and I’m not really into Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber.
It’s a different thing. People like Elton John and Eric Clapton will always be around. You will have your YouTube stars who will last maybe just for a few weeks and that’s fine, I’m not against it. But I think that there is always an alternative and that is what I like and that is what these watches mean.
You see the watchmakers taking several days to assemble watches here and you can see that they are made here by hand in Switzerland.
"Sometimes I feel like a lost soldier"
Is it important for you as a collector to be able to see first-hand how the watches are made?
For me definitely and I hope that there are many more people who feel the same way. I worry that if I tell people that they can see how watches are made that they will just say they will download it and watch it later. And while they do it they will be tweeting at the same time or something else. It’s a different attitude. Sometimes I feel like a lost soldier.
Well we think you are doing a great job of upholding classical values on behalf of Chronoswiss. Well done!
Thank you!
