A. Lange & Söhne

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Disaster struck this morning ...

This morning, at 8:25, getting ready to go to church, I wanted to adjust the
time on my Stealth as it was a few seconds fast. Well, I pulled the crown
when the seconds hands was pointing at approx 60, set the hands to 8:25 and
waited for my radio controlled kitchen clock to reach the 8:25 mark...

I pushed back in the crown and wanted to experience the smooth winding
feeling again, so I gave the crown a turn or two ... but instead of the
winding feeling I noticed the hands revolving over the dial.

OH NO !!!!!!!!!

The first thing that went through my head was: "great, just as the August
holiday season is approaching, my watch decides to stop working", soon
followed by the (more or less comforting) thought that I was planning on
having my Stealth serviced this year anyway and the question I am battling
with "to polish or not to polish".

Then, after pulling the crown a few times to see if I could solve the
problem myself to no avail, I thought about what could be causing the
problems. If you pull the crown a balance stop lever stops the swing of the
balance, perhaps that got stuck?

I grabbed my 10x loupe and my other Lange-1 and noticed that my analysis of
the problem was (partly) correct.



The arrow points to the lever that is blocking the balance.

There is more wrong that just that, since turning the crown makes the hands
revolve, even if the crown is in the winding or neutral position.

In the next picture you can see my faulty PT Lange-1 on top and my RG
Lange-1 beneath it. Notice the difference in the position of the balance
stop lever?



Another picture of the watch: the dial: stuck at 8:25 hours:



Question remains: If you have to send a watch to Glashütte (or a Lange
Service Centre) would you have it polished or not?

I love the look of a new watch, so I am tempted to have Lange polish my
Stealth. OTOH, a new watch IS a new watch and the marks on the Stealth make
it mine and not just a new watch, so I am (heavily) thinking about having
Lange NOT polishing my Stealth.

Curious about what you would do!

Edwin

btw in the before-last picture with the movement details of the two
Lange-1´s; apart from the defective balance-stop-lever, do you notice an
additional difference????

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