A. Lange & Söhne

anaesdoc
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The Lange Zeitwerk - linguistic remarks

Dear Zeitwerk enthusiasts,

as "foversta" and "amanico" have watered your mouths with photos and ardent comments about this watch, I thought all of you, who are not native German speakers, might like to muse on some thoughts concerning the watch´s name: Zeitwerk.

Although I am not infected by the "Zeitwerk-bug", I think Lange found a magnificent name for their latest development!

The name is composed of two parts: Zeit - Werk.

"Zeit" - quite easy, is the German word for "time".
"Werk" - as a noun means "art", "creation", "opus" (lat.), but also "plant", "factory", "work" or "station".

"Werk" in the German language exists in many compound words, which - IMO - are alluded to by the Lange developers to express certain watch qualities.

1. The most obvious one being: "Uhr-werk", meaning "movement" or "clockwork".

2. "Hand-werk" means "handcraft" (manu-facture (lat.)), "artisanry".

3. "Kunst-werk" is a "work of art".

4. "Kraft-werk" means "plant" or "powerhouse".

5. "Wasser-werk"/"Gas-werk" are "waterworks"/"gasworks" which are the central (and sometimes only) suppliers for water and gas. At least they had this monopoly in former times. Whatever you are delievered is measured by special "meters", which we also know from "chrono-meters".

If you look at all these words, the underlying message suggests, you get a watch which is handcrafted, contains a manufacture movement and is a very powerful and reliable technical piece to meter the time. Also it is a piece of art that is supplied by the watch company, pointing out the exclusive character of the watch, that you won´t get elsewhere.

I do not know whether all these appeals very actually intended by Lange, but they may easily be missed by all those being unacquainted with the German language.

So, maybe all those may enjoy the "Zeitwerk" even more, knowing a bit more about the story "behind the name".

Kind regards,

anaesdoc

P.S. I am not associated with the Lange PR department in any way. These are just my very personal speculations and thoughts !