A. Lange & Söhne

I understand that the balance cock (or equivalent) of every Lange watch bears the individualized engraving of the watchmaker who put it together. Indeed, I understand that these engravings enable watchmakers at Lange to know at a glance exactly which of t...  

You just can see part of the V. The pattern is easily recognized of you do a factory visit. They’ll give a small card which states the engraver, not the person who build the watch. Cheers, Dirk

My Datograph was from 2004. I guess N stands for neutral, and that the other letter stand for slow or fast. ...  

The most distinctive feature of this engraver's "signature," in addition to the "N" (and hidden "V"), is the use of three parallel lines just below the screw, along with the hash marks at a 45 degree angle to those lines. It's an interesting contrast to t... 

Before getting into it, let's revisit some theory first to better appreciate the subtleties of why the engraving differences arise. The 1st gen Lange Chrono uses a regulator to adjust the timekeeping (beat rate). Notice the swan-neck with its screw - it p...  

Right here is what’s so great about this site: ask a truly obscure question, get an incredibly interesting answer.

It is true they are individual to the engraver and you can find out who the engraver was from Lange. However the engraver and the watchmaker are not one and the same. They had an engraver at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court and when I showed him ... 

... curious: does the engraver perform any function other than engraving the balance cock?

Like engraving on solid case back if you’d prefer as an example. That’s extra charge of course. 😁