TheWindingStem
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Why did Lange use gold plated Rotor instead of gold for the Saxonia line??
Hello,
as a dedicated Lange fan and collector i always want the brand to be the best it could be as their successes and achievements become a source of pride for me. One of the things that bothered me a lot was the fact that the gorgeous Saxonia Moonphase central rotor is, in fact, not made of solid gold- this is the case with every Saxonia model with a rotor- with very little information as to why. Clearly the first thought to come to mind is Lange is cutting costs to widen their profit margin.
This SIHH2019 i had the opportunity to speak to Anthony De Haas, the Director of Product Development at Lange, and ask why the rotor is not gold. The answer i got made lots of sense and reinforced my belief in the brand. The reason gold was not chosen was their desire to keep the watch as slim as possible with the most efficient rotor to wind the power reserve- gold is elastic too and prone to impacts by shocks. Therefore another solution was found. The metal chosen is a base metal that addresses thickness and elasticity with better resistance to shocks.
The amount of gold in a rotor is really insignificant in terms of costs and the decision to not use gold was entirely technical, also there is a platinum mass on the outer edge to make the winding even more efficient.
Hope this answers the question for some of you whom i spoke with regarding this topic.
Image courtesy of Deployant.
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Why did Lange use gold plated Rotor instead of gold for the Saxonia line??
Hello, as a dedicated Lange fan and collector i always want the brand to be the best it could be as their successes and achievements become a source of pride for me. One of the things that bothered me a lot was the fact that the gorgeous Saxonia Moonphase...
It is not the only Lange with a gold plated rotor
I can't tell you exactly when Lange did this first, but it was also in a Saxonia, simple auto without date, maybe five years ago. I would not say "spoils" the watch but still a strange thing in a Lange.
That is correct.
Saxonia dual time, Saxonia automatic and Saxonia outsize date all have the same gold plated rotor. However, the choice to use a metal other than gold is not unique to Lange as VC for example use Tungsten and im sure other brands did or do so. I think the ...
No one is claiming it can’t be done. [nt]
The goal as with most things Lange is to be efficient and find the best solutions. Frankly, aesthetically it looks identical and i for one am happy with the superior solution.
This arose in 2011 on another watch forum. Here is Lange's response...
... at that time, per Peter Chong, which I have edited for clarity: "Regarding the rotor in the new self-winding movement: The motivation for the replacement of the 21k rotor with one gold plated is not an exercise in cost saving, otherwise probably the p...
i think the rotor being gold plated is more aesthetically pleasing.
it also goes well with the untreated German silver.
Thats a valid question that i totally forgot to ask!
i will ask and get back to you as soon as i receive an answer!
Lange didn't use gold chatons in at least 1 other automatic movements as well...
The Sax-0-Mat base automatic movement (used in the Saxonia Annual Calendar, Langematik Perpetual Calendar, Anniversary with enamel dial, old Langematiks with and without Big Date, etc.) also had no gold chatons.
