CR[Moderator]
3377
Thanks for this, Patrick!
Oct 24, 2022,20:47 PM
Lange did a wonderful job with these updates.
The hour pusher is really convenient. It takes soooo many turns of the crown to set the time on the OG ZW.
On the dial side, the larger second subdial is a nice touch.
Not a big fan of the red accent on the power reserve for the platinum model, though the red accent looks great with the rose gold/black dial.
I didn't realize they changed the font printing on the numeral discs, using less black paint to make them slightly clearer. That's a nice, subtle change. I wonder if Lange used these same updated font discs in the ZW Date and the ZW HG Lumen but we never noticed them before. I also wonder if the new and old numeral discs are interchangeable. Maybe we now have to use terms like "Mark I" and "Mark II" to describe these slightly different fonts.
I read elsewhere that the bezel is slightly slimmer now too.
On the movement side, just aesthetically, I have a strong preference for the older movement, though they're both stunning. The newer movement is cleaner and more streamlined, while the older one is more charming. I love the quirky, angled remontoir and seeing the stopwork mechanism atop the barrel. That's one of my favorite visual features of the older movement. I also liked the 3 screws on the barrel bridge.
As an aside, I'm unclear about why the stopwork isn't necessary any more -- or if it just got moved to someplace hidden.
The longer power reserve that we've seen in the post-2019 ZW models (the L043.6/8/9) is just fantastic.
I'd like to see old and new side-by-side, in person. I especially want to know what it feels like to wind the new one. I love winding the old one -- the very stiff crown, where you can hear each distinctive ratchet click.
One thing about the strap: Are you positive it's 21mm and not 20mm? I have a Lange data sheet that says it's still 20mm, and they usually don't make typos on those things.