Ochs und Junior has never been a brand that needed the obvious route.
Its latest move is a reminder that independent watchmaking can be playful without becoming throwaway, with seven of the brand’s signature models now available as pendant or pocket watches.
The timing is hard to ignore, as pocket watches are enjoying a fresh spell of attention, but Ochs und Junior’s take feels less like trend-chasing and more like an extension of its long-running design logic.
At a glance
- Ochs und Junior is offering seven of its existing models in pendant and pocket watch form.
- The watches retain the brand’s minimalist complication displays and extensive customisation options.
- Each pendant watch comes with a custom leather pouch and a braided cord by Swiss textile and product designer Sabina Brägger.
A pocket format with an Ochs und Junior accent
The new pendant and pocket watch option applies to seven models from the Ochs und Junior catalogue rather than introducing a single standalone novelty.
That matters, because the appeal here isn’t simply the absence of a strap and lugs.
Ochs und Junior’s watches are built around a very particular idea of complexity, where sophisticated calendar, lunar and time-zone indications are reduced to clean, almost elemental displays.
Moving those watches off the wrist doesn’t change the philosophy, but it does alter the relationship with the object.
A pendant or pocket watch is handled differently, checked differently and carried with more intention than a conventional wristwatch.
For a brand whose dials already ask the wearer to engage with information in a less conventional way, that shift feels surprisingly natural.
The seven models moving beyond the wrist
The available models include the perpetual calendar, annual calendar, two time zones, date, two time zones and date, day/night and moon phase.
Ochs und Junior’s naming is intentionally plain, but the watchmaking is anything but simplistic.
The brand’s perpetual calendar and annual calendar models are especially good examples of Dr Ludwig Oechslin’s approach, where complicated indications are expressed through restrained layouts and a minimal number of components.
The moon phase, known within the collection as selene, also fits the pendant format well, because lunar information has long belonged to watchmaking’s more poetic side.
None of this turns the watches into costume objects.
The point is that a different mode of wearing, or carrying, can make an already distinctive watch feel more personal.
Customisation remains central
Ochs und Junior is treating the pendant and pocket format as another layer of its customisation programme.
Clients can configure elements such as case size where offered, case material, dial colour, markers, hands, complication indicators, Super-LumiNova and strap choices through the brand’s online customizer.
For the pendant or pocket watch execution, the request has to be made directly by email after choosing the preferred model and configuration.
Each pendant watch is supplied with a custom-made leather pouch and a braided cord created by Sabina Brägger, a Swiss textile and product designer.
That detail is important, because it keeps the format from feeling like a simple case conversion.
The pouch and cord make the object complete, giving it a practical carrying solution while reinforcing the tactile, made-to-order character of the project.
Dr Ludwig Oechslin’s logic at work
The move also makes sense when viewed through the career of Dr Ludwig Oechslin, the mind behind Ochs und Junior.
A Swiss master watchmaker with a background spanning archaeology, philosophy, theoretical physics and astronomy, Oechslin has built his reputation on reducing complicated mechanisms to their most efficient form.
His work has long sat outside easy categorisation, from his role in the modern story of Ulysse Nardin to his part in making the Freak’s rotating movement a reality.
At Ochs und Junior, that thinking takes on a quieter shape.
The watches are not minimal because they lack content, but because their complexity has been edited down with unusual discipline.
Seen that way, a pendant watch is not a nostalgic detour.
It’s another unconventional housing for the same intellectual watchmaking language.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Ochs und Junior |
|---|---|
| Format | Pendant or pocket watch |
| Available models | Perpetual calendar, annual calendar, two time zones, date, two time zones and date, day/night, moon phase |
| Customisation | Case size where applicable, case material, dial colour, markers, hands, complication indicators, Super-LumiNova and strap options |
| Included accessories | Custom-made leather pouch and braided cord by Sabina Brägger |
| Ordering note | Pendant or pocket watch preference is requested directly by email after configuring the watch |
For collectors who already understand Ochs und Junior, the pendant option will feel like a clever expansion rather than a novelty.
For everyone else, it’s a timely reminder that independent watchmaking is often at its best when it ignores the expected shape of things.
