A. Lange & Söhne

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Honey Gold Patina...

Now we can see what honey gold looks like as it patinates. My local Lange AD just received a new honey gold 1815 200th anniversary (ref. no. 236.050) in stock, so I took the opportunity to compare it to a honey gold 1815 moonphase (ref. no. 212.050) that was made 4 years ago, in early 2011. As you can see below, Lange's honey gold becomes quite yellow over time.

The darker, separate tang buckle is from the 4-year-old honey gold 1815 moonphase. This buckle has been stored in a small plastic zip-loc bag for the past 4 years. One of the salesmen at the AD said that it developed a particularly dark patina (compared to the 4-year-old honey gold 1815 moonphase watch head, which was not stored in plastic) because of the buckle's proximity to petroleum products that were used to make the plastic bag. As you can see, that older tang buckle is VERY dark. I was shocked when I first saw it -- I couldn't believe my eyes (in a good way, because I really like yellow gold).

Also note in the top photo that Lange used the smaller 16mm buckle in the old honey gold 1815 moonphase, whereas they used the significantly larger 16mm buckle in the new honey gold 1815 200th anniversary. Lange has used 2 different sizes of 16mm tang buckles for many years depending upon the watch.