Venerable German watch manufacture A. Lange & Sohne debuted three new watches for 2012 at the SIHH show in Geneva last week. I showed you the new Lange Datograph Ab/Auf (Power Reserve) piece already, so now let’s look at the new Grande Lange 1. For 2012 A. Lange has retained the key elements of the Grand Lange 1 while at the same time freshening up the overall look. Starting with a a new movement – the Lange Calibre L095.1 — the thickness of the Grande Lange 1 has been reduced to 8mm, vs. 11mm previously; as well, a single, thinner mainspring has replaced a twin barrel configuration. What I like most is that the new dial has a larger date window and no overlap of sub-dials — this gives the watch a superbly clean look. The A. Lange & Sohne Grande Lange 1 will be available in yellow (Ref. 117.021) and pink gold (Ref. 117.032) at 31,000 euros (approx. US$39,600) and platinum (Ref. 117.025) for 47,000 euros (approx US$60,000). I am partial to the beautiful pink-gold case.
A. Lange & Sohne Grande Lange 1
40.9mm case (8.8mm thick), hand-wound Lange Calibre L095.1 (72 hrs power reserve), “big date”, fitted on croc strap
A. Lange’s even bigger “big date” window:
by Kyle Stults on January 16, 2012
new lume…
The LANGE 1 TIME ZONE has been the perfet companion for frequent flyers since 2005; this year sees a a white-gold version with luminous hands and appliques. This watch is classique lange charm and elegance.
A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 Time Zone Luminous
41.9mm white gold case (11mm thick), manual-wind Lange 301.1 caliber,
Functions
Home time with day/night indicator (hours, minutes, small seconds with stop seconds), zone time (hours, minutes) with day/night indicator and city ring, outsize date for home time, power-reserve indicator
Crown for winding the watch and setting the time; a push piece for switching the outsize date; a push piece for advancing the city ring
note the lume:
Lange manufacture calibre L031.1, manually wound, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; twin mainspring barrel; plates and bridges made of untreated German silver; balance cock and intermediate-wheel cock engraved by hand
It is now official that at SIHH 2012 A. Lange & Sohne will unveil the Datograph Up/Down. And what a frickin’ beautiful watch she is. The “Up/Down” (“Ab/Auf” in German) is a reference to the new power reserve function on the iconic Datograph watch that first debuted in 1999 with the Caliber L951.1, a movement that set the standard for a manufacture chronograph movement. The 2012 Datograph also gets a few more subtle changes including a larger case size (41mm vs. the original at 39mm) and a markedly greater power reserve (60 hours vs the original at 38 hours). Also gone are the Roman numeral hour markers, now solely baton hour markers (I have mixed feelings on this). So while clearly not a step-change from the original, the new Lange Datograph will offer aficionados something a little bit different for their collection. This watch will undoubtedly be one of the best new releases for 2012.
A. Lange & Sohne Datograph Up/Down Watch
platinum case, manual-wind Lange Calibre L951.6 (60 hrs pwr reserve)
Hard to beat a movement that looks like this, don’t you think?
A. Lange Calibre L951.6
Did you Know?
Lange Datograph History
According to the watch wise-men at Hodinkee:
It [the Lange Datograph] is the watch that, according to many, started the trend in manufacture chronograph movements that we are still seeing many play catch up to today. Keep in mind, this is a true in-house chronograph that launched in 1999, which means ALS had one before Patek Philippe – 2006′s 5960 was an in-house and automatic and 2010′s 5170 was Patek’s first manually wound in-house chrono. AP and Vacheron, to this day, have not released a true in-house chronograph, though both of their products are exceptionally well made. So, 1999′s Datograph was a very big deal.
by Kyle Stults on September 15, 2011
Feast your eyes on the new Richard Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mérite Handwerkskunst , a stunning 15-piece limited edition from elite German manufacture A. Lange & Sohne. A. Lange diehards will recognize this as a special edition of the fourth “Pour le Mérite” that was introduced at SIHH 2011 (itself one of Lange’s most prestigious models). The case of this special watch is crafted of Lange’s beautiful honey-gold” alloy that is more than twice as hard as normal gold. The dial is likewise made of solid gold and features exquisite decoration in the form of three dimensional relief-style lettering and a delicate granular texture similar. Mechnically impressive as well, the watch demonstrates a beautiful tourbillon and an intricate “chain-and-fusee transmission”. Check it out below!
A. Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mérite “Handwerkskunst”
41.9mm honey-gold case (12.2mm thick), manual-wind Lange manufacture calibre L072.1 with chain-and-fusee transmission
On the movement, the three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver, which can be admired through the sapphire-crystal case-back. The watch exhibits two complications – a fusée-and-chain transmission and a tourbillon (visible through the dial):
The fourth-wheel bridge is embellished with an elaborate relief engraving. Contrary to the more common method of engraving, the technique used for this piece sculpts the motif out of the material, in effect raising it from the background.
This extraordinary collector’s item is limited to 15 pieces that are available exclusively at the five A. Lange & Söhne boutiques in Dresden, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong.
Absolutely Amazing…
Looking at the 2011 A. Lange & Söhne collection, I find little not to like. Of course Lange’s watches tend to appeal to watch aficionados with more traditional tastes, and of this is fully by design. A strong sense of tradition across all aspects of the Lange manufacture is quite evident — and it is what makes A. Lange, A. Lange, at least for me. Like many of A. Lange’s watches, this new Saxonia Dual Time watch seems flawless in every way. Clean, uncluttered dial with meticulously placed markings and lettering, a modest case size (40mm), and of course impeccable finishing. The watch is perfectly traditional in every way.
Likewise the functionality of the watch is elegantly simple and intuitive – the hour hand (made of solid-gold) that indicates local time can be incremented or decremented in one-hour steps. This is done simply by pushing one of the two push pieces located at 8 and 10 o’clock in the left-hand case flank. When the upper push piece is pressed once, the hour hand advances by one hour. When the lower one is actuated, the hour hand jumps anti-clockwise, again in one-hour steps.
A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Dual Time (Ref 385.026)
40mm white gold case (a pink gold model is also available)
note the use of color on the 24hr subdial to indicate AM vs. PM
How about you? Are you a fan of this watch? A fan of A. Lange in general? Feel free to leave a comment!
A radiant presence…
First introduced in 2003 by German Manufacture A. Lange & Sohne, the 41.9mm “Grand Lange 1″ is the big brother of the 38.5mm Lange 1. The Lange 1 itself is perhaps the emblematic watch of the house of A. Lange, highly acclaimed and awarded. As you can tell by the name of the watch, the Grand Lange 1 now for the first time has luminous hands and time markers.
A. Lange Grand Lange 1 Luminous
white gold case, Caliber L901.2 hand-wound movement with 72+ hour power reserve, hand-stitched black crocodile strap with matching buckle
Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Geert Tibosch, co-owner of the leading Dutch watch platform, DeZinVanLuxe (DZVL), which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.
The dream of every watch collector: a unique piece, something really special. Earlier than expected, I was going to have the chance to own such a piece; a Lange & Söhne pocket watch, a chronograph from the early 1900’s.
Whether I’d wear such a thing is another question, but owning such a masterpiece would be fantastic. To cut a long story short, at a small auction house in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, they had a pocket watch up for auction. Not just a pocket watch, but the Lange mentioned above. Below you can see the picture of the watch from the catalogue, and below this a picture of the movement, directly from the Lange & Söhne website.
The auction house estimate was set between €350 and €500. This could be a great opportunity to make a dream come true. The week before the auction I collected all possible information about the watch, unfortunately there wasn’t a single comparable watch on the internet.
So we had to make a decision, how much would it be worth to us? Before the auction we looked at the pocket watch once again. Obviously it was special, but how special?
Lot number 6218 was brought into the auction room, we agreed on the maximum amount we were going to bid. The only thing that could help us now was a lack of interest from other bidders. The auction started at €400, to €425, €450… The auctioneer didn’t see my raised hand until another bidder stopped bidding at €700. Now the bidding really began, two candidates with only one goal: bringing in an unprecedented fine Lange & Söhne pocket watch.
Bidding went up quickly to 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, 3,000… Phew, we weren’t expecting that. All the literature on auctions says one thing to get the optimum result: decide your maximum bid in advance and do not get distracted by peripheral issues or emotion. No sooner said than done: when bidding reached €3,200 we stopped, however special the pocketwatch seemed to be.
After the lot was sold, the auction was over for us. The winning bidder also left the room and waited for us outside. The only thing we could do, was to congratulate him with this fantastic purchase. We couldn’t resist asking him about his knowledge of the watch.
Dumbfounded he told us this was a really unique piece from Lange & Söhne and he ascribed a value of no less than €25,000 to the pocket watch. We knew it was special, but not that special…
An illusion poorer but an experience richer, the auction ended. We didn’t feel disappointment or regret, only respect for the buyer. With his knowledge and experience he had the key to success!
What an experience!
How About a Lume Shot for the Zeitwerk Luminous?!?
As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is sooo much to like from A. Lange this year. So why not feature another one here on the blog. A. Lange introduced the Zeitwerk last year to great acclaim. They have added a spectacular innovaton to the Zeitwerk this year – that is, use of a dark-tinted sapphire-crystal glass that allows just enough visibility so that you can see the numerals that would otherwise be hidden on the inner workings of the watch. But the kicker is that the numerals are coated with white Superluminova, meaning that in the dark, the glowing numerals will appear to float incandescently on the dial of the watch. Cooooool…….
Now, if you want to see all the rest of the A. Lange goodies this year you can click here, or any of the other watches from the 19 brands at this year’s SIHH, just click on over to our Official SIHH 2010 Forum page and feast your eye for as long as you like!
Sooo much to like from A. Lange this year. Here’s one for starters – the Saxonia Annual Calendar. This is very much a Lange in its design, with a modest case size (38.5mm case) in white gold (pictured) or pink gold. The movement is an automatic with 46 hour power reserve. You can read all the specs here, along with several other new models from A. Lange.
These two press pictures from Lange look amazing and I thought worth sharing here:
by Kyle Stults on January 14, 2010
A. Lange & Söhne to Live Blog from SIHH 2010 – And Officially Launch It’s Twitter Feed – Bravo!
Well, well well what another fantastic surprise I get in my inbox today. Looks like all of you watch owners, collectors & enthusiasts will be getting unprecedented access at SIHH 2010 from not only Jaeger-leCoultre (see here to sign up for their live videocast and Q&A session), but now A. Lange & Sohne as well who is going to be “live blogging” the entire event. Also in what I find to be slightly humorous, A. Lange indicated that it will be officially launching the brand’s Twitter account (http://twitter.com/alangesoehne is it?) – I chuckle only because this seems like a lot of fanfare just for starting on Twitter 
So how to tune in to this? You are just a click away!
It’s going to be a fun Monday!
