A. Lange & Söhne

halgedahl
1333

• Show profile
• Show other posts

An elegant watch with an unassailable pedigree. You are a lucky fellow! But about those violin strings….

By any chance are those Thomastik Dominants? The rosewood pegs look nice on this fiddle; the instrument, itself, looks like it may have some age on it. Here’s a fairly nice, limited edition JDM Grand Seiko in close proximity to my fiddle, a modern copy made in Derbyshire in 2004 by Ian Highfield, now deceased. of a Januarius Vinaccia, Naples, 1739. The watches are totally different animals, but the fiddles may be more closely related!




Highfield was a master copyist. His early training was in art, and his eye for subtle detail is evident in the unforced visual persuasion of his work. But the sound of this violin is quite fine, as well! It’s voice on the old-fashioned-stringy side that reminds of old Heifetz recordings, when high-fidelity was a long way from capturing the full spectrum of sound. While more of a chamber music fiddle than a concert instrument (this Vinaccia copy is built around Amati lines, with significant arching and modest, beautifully rounded shoulders) nonetheless it carries quite well, and manages to keep pace with a 9’ Steinway in a Beethoven Sonata. 

The Grand Seiko SBGHW003 I’ve written about in the Seiko forum. I apologize for the photo; I hadn’t wiped down the watch in several days. The so-called zaratsu polishing with which the case was finished still gleams magnificently with a few swipes of a handkerchief. And as quirky as the dial looks at first encounter, the longer one lives with it, the more brilliant the design seems, for in nay light at all the time registers with perfect clarity due to the contrast afforded by the sharp blue hands against the crème-colored dial.

 

No… not a Lange & Sohne. But a worthy timepiece nevertheless. I suppose I’ve assumed quite a bit to address you as a violinist. But photos of watches with fiddles are so rare on this forum! I was simply excited to see another. Best regards, wherever and whomever you are!    Fred Halgedahl

Site Info.