Independents in Dresden

Something unique took place last September in Perth, Australia: a retail shop for independent brands opened its doors. While Swiss Time Machine focuses primarily on Switzerland-based independents such as MB&F and Speake-Marin, Germany's new horological hotspot has German-speaking independents primarily in its sights. Unique clockmakers, too, find a home in this luxurious new boutique.

A.H.C.I. member Marco Lang, owner, proprietor and co-founder of Dresden's premier watch manufacture Lang & Heyne, had long had the idea for this shop. “With their philosophy and emotional investment, these brands go against the trend of industrialized luxury watchmaking. These fine watch brands with a high perfectionist grain and a manufacturing capacity of often only a few watches per year are perfect for collectors.”

Lang & Heyne itself only manufactures 30 timepieces per year with ten employees and a fully outfitted workshop at home within a Dresden manor.
 

Unique brands

Hartding is probably the only shop in the world to carry so many A.H.C.I. wristwatch brands under one roof. These include Andersen Genève, Christian van der Klaauw, Frank Jutzi, Konstantin Chaykin, Lang & Heyne, Marc Jenni, Paul Gerber and Pita Barcelona. Very interestingly, they also include clockmakers Mattias Naeschke, Miki Eleta, Philippe Wurtz and Sinclair Harding (all A.H.C.I. members) as well as Chronos (non-A.H.C.I.). Select non-A.H.C.I. wristwatch brands also make an appearance here such as Stefan Kudoke and Habring2.

Lang also plans to sell Urwerk in the shop – this makes sense since Felix Baumgartner is also an A.H.C.I. member – but not yet as Urwerk currently immediately sells just about everything it produces. “Like for everyone else at the moment, the economy is creating good conditions for Urwerk. I hope to have them in the shop soon,” Lang explained.
 

Unique location

“We expect more people to find our shop more or less by accident than to make an extra trip to see us,” Lang said. Though Dresden may not seem like a prime area for such out-of-the-ordinary watchmaking, the location within the baroque city is perfect for this type of shop: placed next to the lobby of the newly opened Swissôtel Dresden, Hartding faces Dresden's premier tourist attraction, the Zwinger museum. It is also just around the corner from the rest of the top-notch sights as well as the A. Lange & Söhne boutique in Dresden.

By this time you're probably wondering why Lang chose the name Hartding. “It stands for the many passionate watchmakers in my family,” Lang revealed. “Particularly my great-great-grandfather Richard Hartding, who opened his own shop in 1903 and took his first step toward independence.”