Norbert Windecker: (finally grins and shakes his head.) As a maker of high-end watches, you need the appropriate tranquillity. Without total concentration the many tiny parts could easily be damaged. And if you concentrate, you simply don’t laugh. Watchmakers are anything but serious people – on the contrary. Actually, I think we have our very own brand of humour.

	Norbert Windecker: And fun. Apart from the versatile work at the watchmaker’s bench, I particularly enjoy the direct contact with people who wear Lange watches. I am always happy when I can help these interested and interesting people with my skills. No two inspections or repairs are alike. Every watch seems to be an individual, with its own character traits and sometimes a little “quirk”. So they must be treated in an appropriately individual way.

	Norbert Windecker: Even when I was a little boy I used to stand at my grandfather’s and father’s watchmaker’s benches and quite naturally grew up surrounded by timepieces. I played with toys that my grandpa built from old clocks. Watches have always been part of my life. I could hardly avoid becoming a watchmaker myself later. After my apprenticeship, I wanted to work in a real watch manufactory. The good reputation of precision watchmaking in Saxony prompted me to go, not to Switzerland, but to Lange in Glashütte.