My journey to meet Christian Lass on his home turf started in Geneva, Switzerland. I had a trip to Stockholm, Sweden planned this past April. I had been in Geneva for the Watches & Wonders/AHCI Ice Bergues shows the week prior and had had a coffee with Christian by the River Rhone as it flows out of Lac Leman. I had broached the idea of coming to Denmark to visit him, and in those discussions, he got the wrong week for my Scandanavian visit. I’m sure the travel, stress of the show and meeting suppliers added to the confusion. So alas, I thought I would not get to visit him.

Once I arrived in Stockholm and messaged Christian about a possible visit, we were able to set it up quickly, as he was indeed home. I arranged the short flight to Copenhagen airport and then an efficient train journey of about 2 hrs to Odense, where I was picked up by Christian for the 30 min drive to Haarby, where their atelier is located. Christian and Hanne had bought an old industrial building a few years ago and have recently finished up the rehab and now have an amazing workplace, with plenty of room to create their Danish horological magic! My relatively brief visit of 2.5hrs was jam packed with horological excitement.

Riding on the train across the long bridge from Copenhagen to Odense.

The “garage” where there is space to move around, with the Haas CNC multi-axis milling machine and galvanic plating area behind it in the corner.

Upon arriving at the Lass workshop and atelier, we were greeted by Hanne, Christian’s wife and well known hand engraver. Originating from Germany where she began her watchmaking career and hand engraving studies, Hanne and Christian met while living and working in Switzerland for Vianney Halter in Ste. Croix. Many of those early VH Classic, Trio and Antiqua Perpetual dials were hand engraved by Hanne! In fact my C.2008 VH Classic I know was assembled by Christian during his tenure there and almost certainly the dial done by Hanne! It was great to see where these guys have ended up and their production of watches is now in full force. Their production is still tiny due to all that they do, however, the collectors who stepped up and are on the list to receive a 30CP, are very fortunate IMO. As a former Master Watchmaker at the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, Christian has the right resume for greatness and I believe what he is doing, is still very much under the radar.

I rather enjoyed this red box atop the CNC machine ;-)

The initial eye opener for me, was how large the single story building was. Quite a footprint, and the first space, resembled a large open garage area. There was a Haas CNC multi-axis milling machine in one corner, a ride-on mower for the outside grass that Christian keeps mowed, in another corner an older Swiss machine that takes long (3meter) steel or brass rods for wheels, pinions and screw making in bulk. It came at a good price from his old employers, well kept up and serviced recently prior to Christian acquiring it from Patek Philippe, who upon upgrading one of their factories, let this go for a song to Christian. The perks of knowing the right people ;) PP had already amortized the cost, so with the new machines coming in, it was a matter of getting these out at any price…

Gas powered machines, the mower and motorcycle in the “Garage”!

The older Tornos cam driven milling machine from Moutiers, Switzerland.

There was another large machine in the garage area, I am not at liberty to share, suffice to say that it will produce remarkable dials in due course. It was covered and the photos I took, will have to remain unshown until I receive the nod from Christian, that it is OK to share. I had never seen such a machine and I’m sure that the possibilities that he showed me for decorating dials and bridges will be groundbreaking in horology.

There was also an old Hauser Optical Comparator in the “Garage” area, always a needed tool when manufacturing parts to make sure they are correctly shaped.

Christian also has several machines for making the cutting tools for his many machines. An old Swiss Agathon grinder and an Hahn & Kolb grinder from Stuttgart, Germany. When one makes the case, dial and hands for their watch, it is a whole other level of complexity in terms of manufacturing. Many more machines and skills are required in order to master all the required operations. This multi-expertise ability is what I commonly find in these artisan independent watchmakers and it is a hugely compelling aspect of their work.

Next stop was Hanne’s office, where she creates her hand engraved magic for the dials and bridges. In the hand engravers rotating ball was a 30CP dial being engraved, partially completed, it was fascinating to see.

A dial receiving it’s hand engraved numerals.

I was shown her watch that was she made for her master certificate of watchmaking in Germany. A stunning piece of horological design, with of course much hand engraving and chasing in a style that I happen to love. Quite Art Nouveau in feel, my favorite era of design.

Hanna’s hand engraved and chased caliber.

Next room contained several machines for case and pinion making. Again these had been acquired during his time in Switzerland. He showed me the case burnishing machine, I have never see these before or had any idea of how they were used in the casemaking. Amazing to get a demo by Christian. There was also another old Swiss machine that was able to create these sunburst cuts in a rotating pattern. Again the possibilities are almost endless for dials etc.

Potential dial decoration option for the future?

This produces the dial decoration in the photo above.

Next room has tools for the decoration of various parts and hardening of pinions. Many lathes were in this room as well a perlage machine and another Optical Comparator. In the prototyping stage, much work is done here. When one considers how many unique parts go into even a simple time only wristwatch caliber and in Christian’s there are several unusual shaped bridges, the amount of time it takes for all the surface finishes and anglage to occur is many hundreds of hours. It is one thing to get ones parts from a specialist supplier, it is another to make them yourself. Seeing this operation, I got a really good sense of why these watch take so long to be delivered.

Christian giving me the tour and explaning what the various lathes and other tools are used.

Neat to see the raw wood that is used in polishing parts and then it’s tool shape that is attached to a lathe.

We then headed into the the final hand finishing room, where Christian and an apprentice colleague are doing the hand bevelling, black polishing and final fine detail work of the various parts. A few semi-assembled raw calibers were in a tray, with a parts tray in blue containing most of the parts for the run of 50 pieces that will eventually be made over the coming few years.

I was interested to see a pile of what looked like sticks on the floor by a bench. Enquiring as to what the pile was, I was amused to find out this was Christian’s last haul of dried Gentian plant stems from a recent drive back from Switzerland with a car full of machines & parts for his expanding atelier. Gentian wood/plant stems are used for traditional fine and final polishing of steel or brass parts that are being bevelled or anglage. Together with a diamond paste, this wood allows for the mirror like finish of high quality bevels we all like to see. The plant only grows at elevation and this clearly is not found in Denmark with it’s highest elevation being 170m/560feet above sea level! So each time he visits Switzerland by car, which is usually annually, he stocks up on this important polishing aid.

Fine finishing and final assembly occurs in this room. Gentian sticks at far end on floor!

The room where all the fine hand finishing occurs has several benches for different finishing applications. It is neat to see the tools made to hold the hands, in order to be able to correctly polish the domed surface of the hands. All these tools have to be made by Christian and his team before thay can finish all the hands.

A Lass hand in the tool for beveling and polishing.

I enjoyed seeing the parts tray, with various un-finished/raw parts, there is clearly a lot of work to do to get these parts in the finished condition for assembly of a 30CP model. The tray of raw Christian Lass calibers sat waiting for the hours and hours of hand finishing to occur before they are delivered. I was shown a raw mainplate and wheel train/barrel bridge that really reveals the parts as they come out of the CNC lathe.

Raw calibers pre-assembled to check the running of parts.

Mainplate and barrel/wheel train bridge, unfinished German Silver.

We had a break of about 15mins for tea and cake before I was whisked away by Christian to get back to Odense train station, in order to catch the train back to the airport and my flight to Stockholm. Another highly educational visit to a brilliant independent watchmaker’s workshop/atelier and I’m hugely grateful for the kind hospitality shown by Christian and Hanne Lass.

I’m honored and thrilled to have helped them find 4 homes for this amazing watch. These collectors will be well rewarded for their support and patience.

Thank you Hanne & Christian!