A. Lange & Söhne

BluNotte
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An ancestor of the Richard Lange Pour Le Merite

Guten abend fellows!

Well, my RL PLM isn't here yet, and i'm very much and anxious as many of you are to welcome this new masterpiece into my home. ( Congrats to our dearest friends Sam and Craig in getting their wonderful superb Langes in recent days! )

Latest updates i'm getting is it should arrive next month, or late this month at the earliest. Apparently Lange is very picky when it comes to the enamel dials, this really shows their commitment to the highest quality and finish when it comes to their watches, and if it fails to meet even a tiny bit of standard, they'd rather do it all over again than compromise ( by say putting the imperfect dial into a watch and sending it off to a customer so they he or she can get it faster and be happier, i think not, because for me i'd prefer the delay and get a final good perfect product, than to rush the process by having it on my wrist sooner, but not being 100% perfect)

So, to help us ease off the tension, or mine mainly, I thought i'd share with you all a photo that i'v found off the net.

Ever since I got the RL PLM, i'V been wondering a fair bit about it's ancestral design which the designers got their inspiration for. I have searched through many Lange resources, and photos from the net to see which vintage piece did the designers used in planning out the dial for the RL PLM. And I think I have found the exact match.

This is as big a photo I can get of the vintage piece.

Now, a comparison between the 2.

1. As you all can see, both dials have roman numerals to them, and the sub-seconds dial of the RL PLM is basically a copy of the vintage piece. ( Most vintage ALS i have seen have that inner circle that connects the bold index together, therefore I knew the RL PLM was not inspired by them)

2. A railway track exists on the VP ( vintage piece), but not for it's modern cousin.

3. Blued hands are used for both, except it's lance hands ( or so i think they are called?) on the modern version.

4. Don't happen to see a Made in Germany mark here on the VP.

5. The sub seconds dial cuts into the numerals 5 & 7 as it does on the RL PLM, but there is no numeral 6 at all on the VP, while the RL PLM has a 6 that is almost cut completely, but still legible.

6. Red numerals at the quarters on the RL PLM, none on the VP

7. Sunken dial, 3 parts for the RL PLM, but it seems from the photo that it is just one level piece for the VP. ( Am not entirely sure about this, as the photo isn't exactly the clearest)

I hope you all found this interesting, but this definitely intrigues me. LoL!

On a side note, could any of you Lange Pros out there confirm for me the function of the button to the left of the crown on the VP? If i am not mistaken, does one hold down this button to hack the seconds, and thus adjust the time accurately? ( As i remember reading from somewhere that the crown does not pull out on vintage pocket watches of Lange, they have only 1 position, and this is the position to wind the movement, and to turn the hands, but to turn them one has to push in and hold the button to the left of the crown, but not only does this crown hacks the movement, it also allows the hour and minute hand to be adjusted) Is my knowledge of this correct? Or am i competely off course? I would like to know the truth if anyone would care to enlighten me. Danke!

Tschuss and have a great weekend!

Stephen

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