Watchmakers inside the new facility enjoy an consistent temperature year-round, in part due to the building’ s insulating second glass wall( below).
A.
Lange & Sohne added a new, second, production facility in Glashütte last year not to ramp up production, but to make its in-house watchmaking procedures more efficient than they had been previously. And in addition to streamlining many of the company’ s component-making, engraving and finishing departments within the new 58,000-square-feet facility, A. Lange & Söhne also made sure the new building was itself as efficient as the watchmaking processes within it.
Launched with an official inauguration by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the new building blends nicely into Glashutte’ s watch-company streetscape. It sits astride the firm’ s existing manufacturing facility, which is connected via a raised crosswalk.
While the new facility echoes the exterior design of the older production facility across the street( but with much larger window openings and more internal space), the new building’ s interior is designed to be far more energy efficient. This is accomplished with Saxony’ s largest geothermal energy plant, built with fifty-five heat exchangers that reach 410 feet below ground level( see accompanying chart) to maintain a consistent indoor climate year-round. Since these pumps operate via renewable energy sources, the new Lange manufactory is CO2-free. As part of the eco-friendly design, a glass hallway runs along the building’ s exterior walls to further spare the watchmakers within from temperature variations caused by the exterior temperature.
With the addition of this new facility, the firm’ s fourth( and largest) building in Glashütte, the firm’ s approximately 250 watchmakers attend to their timepieces within with a more efficiently planned workspace. Newer heavy CNC machinery, a sometimes-difficult fit in the older production building, has been installed in the new facility’ s custom-made lower floors. Case polishing, movement making and many finishing steps are made in adjacent, sun-lit rooms, minimizing the time they travel between workshops. Finishing also occurs in the adjacent building.
“ The new building is a response to employment growth in recent years and represents an investment in the manufactory’ s
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