The art of good measure(ment)

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The art of good measure(ment) - Hanhart
3 minutes read
On the surface, Hanhart is a specialist of fine time measurement; while on a deeper level, the brand development is guided by finely measured wisdom.

Just a year ago, Hanhart was still often referred to as an appealing “confidential” brand. Today, it would be risky to maintain this judgement without exposing one’s ignorance. Since its relaunch over 15 years ago, the brand first founded in 1882 has consistently developed around its roots in the field of precise, reliable, sturdy and democratically priced German-built chronographs.

Stellar guides

Watches below the CHF 3,000 mark

Hanhart has been nurtured by some big names, including serial entrepreneur Philippe Gaydoul, who acquired the brand in 2010. The man who famously took over the Denner discount supermarket chain at the age of 26 immediately sensed the potential of Hanhart, a brand that “sparks an emotional response” and has a clearly written history and proven capacities.

The CEO initially chosen to head the company was Thomas Morf, the man who launched Carl F. Bucherer, the watch division of the giant Bucherer retail group. He and Gaydoul defined the road map for Hanhart: a return to German roots, watches below the CHF 3,000 mark, a stronger distribution network and re-boosted communication.

Hanhart calibre 40 monopoussoir 1938
Step by step


There is no shortage of aborted brand relaunches and Hanhart might have experienced the same fate as so many others that have been destroyed by overconfidence. Especially since Hanhart has been showing so many positive signals including multiple partnerships (in car and motorbike racing), enduring collections, a new CEO (Jan Edöcs), a productive R&D department (that has created an original steel alloy, HDSPro) and a number of international development projects (in North America, Russia and China).

Jan Edöcs

Nonetheless, Hanhart has opted to keep its cool and thus managed to avoid the most classic pitfalls that await newly relaunched brands. The first such trap is the tendency to develop horological complications that have no particular ties with the brand history. For Jan Edöcs, the future lies in chronographs: “The others indicate time. We measure it”. Hanhart is thus sticking to its core timekeeping skill and wagering on the quality of its German steel: “This is the essence of our Made in Germany label carrying strong connotations of high quality”, says the CEO.


The second trap is the annual increase in the prices of its models. This is a temptation that often assails successful brands. Hanhart takes the opposite approach, as Jan Edöcs reaffirmed right from his first Baselworld as CEO: it is in the under 3,000 Swiss franc price segment that Hanhart can really come into its own. “We are not intending to compete with Glashütte or A. Lange & Söhne with their steadily climbing prices. Here at Hanhart, we are focusing on affordable German quality. We may well even be lowering the price of our chronographs in the near future”, he confides.


Moreover, while a price increase would of course have generated short-term revenues, it would have contradicted the brand values established by Wilhelm Julius Hanhart, based on a will to provide high-precision chronographs.

“The most important thing is not the number of boutiques, but the number of watches people are wearing on their wrist!”

Finally, the third trap lies in opening proprietary brand boutiques, the famous flagship stores that the watch industry tends to consider as the Holy Grail for an established brand. However, when these substantial investments are made too soon, they can sometimes sap a brand’s resources to the point of sinking it.


Hanhart, a company run by shrewd administrators, is first of all consolidating its distribution network by working with the finest experts – while nonetheless keeping its options open, as Jan Edöcs confirms: “I’m not saying we’ll never have our own boutiques, but for the time being, we are a niche brand. The German market is our priority and it’s important to grasp the fact that the most important thing is not the number of boutiques, but the number of watches people are wearing on their wrist!”

Hanhart_Pioneer Mk II_716.210-011
A future-oriented pioneer


For many observers, Hanhart is one of the rare chronograph brands to have its own aesthetic signature: the “bicompax” (two-counter) display mode, the asymmetrical arrangement of the pushers, the red reset pusher and the fluted rotating bezel. These are the features characterising its flagship Pioneer collection.


One can be pretty certain that Hanhart will soon have earned its institutional stripes. Stable, reliable and loyal to its roots, it is endowed with authentic expertise and an immediately recognisable aesthetic. Thus, without even trying, Hanhart is probably countering one of the oldest popular watchmaking beliefs, according to which an institutional brand is by nature complicated and reserved for an elite group of consumers.