From the very beginning, it was clear for both of them, that the production of their own watches was the definite goal they were working towards, and as soon as the situation allowed, they left Vienna and closed the geographical circle, which had begun when as a boy, Richard left for the watchmaking school: They moved into the house of Richard’s parents in Eberndorf in Carinthia, which is where I was visiting them and this article started.

Richard's workplace

While the small shop barely shows any sign of its prominent, if not horologically famous genius loci, it is still the economical healthy base for Richard’s activities. Especially his father’s business, the distribution of watch parts, watchmaking tools and accessories, is doing well, and is currently transferred to Richard.  To enter the small, but brightly lit workshop, one has to find a path through piles of bracelets, straps, screwdrivers and boxes with pins and screws. There I am greeted by Richard, who looks far too young to have such a spectacular chronology of horological achievements. He is a very decent personality, speaking with the soft tone common to the people from Carinthia. Bragging about his abilities is certainly not part of his character, and it sometimes is even difficult to retrieve from him the information I am looking for.

Somehow, I was not prepared to the fact that it needs so little sophisticated equipment for building tourbillon watches. Neither there was a computer-controlled milling machine present in the small room, nor some magical black-box. All I can see is a lathe, a drill that can be positioned by coordinates, and an optical projector for checking parts against templates for their accuracy. The rest is in Richard's brain and hands.

Coordinate drill machine

Projector for checking the correct dimensions of parts

Since some time already, his tourbillons underwent an evolutionary process. While the first ones were very traditional, he later recognized that a lot could be done in order to make tourbillons less difficult to service, and less prone to damage. He experimented with different materials for the cages. Gold was excluded, due to its heavy weight and mass inertia. Titanium was good, and tested already during his time at IWC. However, brass proved to offer the best compromise between stability, temperature performance, weight and workability.

A tourbillon cage's first moments: With a (manually guided) lathe the rough shapes are cut from the material

In order to keep the cage's mass small, its diameter was reduced, until it was barely large enough to house the balance wheel. This made it necessary to relocate the screw connections to the sides.

Rough tourbillon cage parts from various materials

To make it brief: at the end, Richard achieved something that had been considered impossible. His tourbillons became real "sports tourbillons", since they were robust enough to withstand all the shocks, bumps and temperature changes that normally happen during the life of a sports watch. Additionally, he claims that any well-trained watchmaker would be fully capable to service his tourbillon. As a consequence, the finish of the parts is adapted to the style of the sports watches they equip: There is no fancy perlage or black-polished shimmer, but a straightly grinded flat finish, with razorsharp edges; not rough, but perfectly executed.

A vintage IWC movement was upgraded with a tourbillon by Richard. The Portugieser-style dial and hands completed the beautiful design. Note how the second hand passes over the tourbillon cage.

Until now, all of his watches were custom ordered, and mostly based on existing movements. But since almost three years, Maria-Kristina and Richard are working on a new idea, nothing smaller than the launch of their own watch brand. When I visited them, the concept just entered its hot phase. Regarding the brand name, it was intended to make clear from the first moment, that not only "Richard Habring", the man, would be part of it, but also Maria-Kristina, the "good fairy" aside Richard, and the driving force behind many good ideas and designs. Consequently, the brand's name should be "Habring & Habring", which, of course, is a bit too long for all but oversized watches. Thus, the idea for "Habring²" was born.

The first prototype of the Habring² "Time Only" was presented in Salzburg

The "Habring²" watch line shall consist of several watches, having in common that the customer will not be limited to the watch itself, once he bought it. Instead, he would be able to upgrade the timepiece with one or several complications. For example, the first "Habring²", dubbed "Time Only", is sold as a simple, yet stunningly beautiful handwinding watch with three hands. However, the movement is already prepared to be modified with a tourbillon, and once the customer wishes, Richard will add this tourbillon. The dial then receives a cutout, and probably the crystal will have to be changed, since the tourbillon needs more space between dial and crystal. Consequently, it will not be necessary to pay for two watches, or to wait until the - very competitive - price of the tourbillon watch has been saved. Instead, one can wear a beautiful watch as long as necessary to collect the funds, before finally getting a beautiful and absolutely rare tourbillon timepiece.

Similar upgrade models will be offered with simpler complications, such as power reserves, GMT function, dead second, chronograph and so on.

Viribus unitis

In the Habring household, the work is done together. During the meals, Richard and Maria-Kristina discuss designs and technical details, with the notebook and the drawings being a permanent presence on the dinner table. Even when they are walking the dog, work continues. Only the purely technical and watchmaking part is done by Richard alone, while Maria-Kristina is responsible for the administration.

Currently, the financial burden of the new watch brand is mostly paid by restoring old and valuable timepieces, making custom order watches, and assignments from the watch industry, which wants him to develop some innovative mechanics. As an example for the latter, Richard is now co-operating with Vulcain, and a not so well-known Dutch brand, specialized on watches for regatta sailing: TNG. For them, Richard designed a mechanical 15 minutes countdown regatta timer, based on a Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement. What makes another TNG watch peculiar, is the 60 minutes-chronograph counter from the center.

TNG Regatta timer with 15 minutes countdown (left), and combined with a chronograph and central 60 minutes-counter (right), protoypes shown by Richard at the Basel fair 2004

Aside from that and the work on their "Habring²" project, they still find time to experiment with new and unusual design ideas. Translucid dials made from shells or horn are but one of several such concepts. I can imagine that seeing but a faint picture of a tourbillon cage rotating under such a dial must indeed look fantastic!

Note the balance wheel shimmering through the translucid disk made from horn

So it is not astonishing that the small workshop in the Carinthian countryside is bristling with activity, which is why I finally make my excuses and leave. I do not want to be responsible for any delays in the work of the two Habrings, of course! When driving home, I am very happy to witness another star rising on the sky of the independent brands: "Habring²"