Creative watchmakers

How men tick ...

With their Blancier watches, Till and Ralf Lottermann stand up to the international competitiors from Rolex to Lange & Söhne. Each customer can design his/her own watch individually.

Sometimes it is not easy to understand how men tick. In Mannheim-Seckenheim, however, there is an enterprise which has succeeded in combining at least two passions of the „stronger sex“ to form a successful business model: the love for high-quality mechanical wristwatches and the pleasure to work meticulously. Big old clocks are hanging on the stone walls of the workshop of Lottermann & Söhne, all displaying a different time. Somewhere a pendulum clock is ticking. Different machines stand on workbenches along the walls. In between there are tools of all kinds and heaps of little screws and wheels, some of them so little that it is hard to grip them by hand. In the middle of the large room, several worktables are put together, bright lamps illuminate them and Till Lottermann is sitting at one of these tables. “We have always restored old clocks and watches and often parts were not available any more, so we had to make them ourselves. That is how the idea was born to build watches ourselves”, describes the master watchmaker the beginnings of today’s business model. The medium-seized enterprise from Seckenheim has meanwhile created a successful niche by two special features, above all: On the one hand, the customers can create their own watch individually in a virtual workshop on the Internet page of Lottermann & Söhne. There are hardly any limits to the combination possibilities of hands, face, watchband or case. 470,000 different models are possible. So the probability of meeting another customer on an evening party wearing the same watch is relatively low. On the other hand, Lottermann & Söhne offer seminars in which customers can design and assemble their own watch. “Meanwhile, the courses account for about 50 percent of our revenues”, says Lottermann. Thanks to this concept, the family business – Lottermann runs the company together with his brother Ralf who has specialised in the restoration of antique furniture – succeeded in standing up to renowned competitors such as Rolex or Lange & Söhne. “You are not able to choose whether you want blue or green watch hands with the large suppliers”, explains Lottermann the success.