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SIHH 2010: A. Lange & Söhne

Lange had a superb range of products this year. In contrast to previous years where the collection was led by a highly complicated watch that was complicated for the sake of being so, the range this year is a gifted balance. Both commercial products with wider appeal and cerebral complications are well represented.

Small complications like the Referenzuhr and annual calendar launched this year are necessary to make Lange more accessible, both financially and intellectually, because they are fairly affordable (by the lofty standards of Lange) and easy to understand. Lange needs that broader appeal to develop over the long term.

Interestingly Lange did not present any new ultra-complicated movement, instead the primary new calibre for 2010 is the L021.1 of the new Lange 1 Daymatic. The movement is new and not based on the Langematik. It has a 50 hour power reserve and Lange’s in-house balance wheel and hairspring.

Below: Lange 1 Daymatic in rose gold, yellow gold and platinum  

Available in yellow or rose gold, or platinum, this watch is a visual mirror image of the original Lange 1. Though it is marginally larger than the original at 39.5 mm in diameter, that increase is almost imperceptible without a side by side comparison. It displays day and date, probably making it the most practical watch in the whole Lange line-up.

Below: L021.1 of Lange 1 Daymatic  

The main theme of the 2010 collection is the brand’s 165^th anniversary. To mark this date, a three piece collection titled “F. A. Lange Homage” was unveiled, comprising the Tourbograph, Lange 1 Tourbillon and 1815 Moon Phase. These are remakes of past Lange limited editions with tweaks, major and minor; admittedly this is not particularly creative but the watches are beautiful and incredibly well made, so it is difficult to criticise them.

All three watches are cased in a unique honey coloured gold alloy that is twice as hard as regular 18 ct gold and exclusive to Lange. Each of the watches in the anniversary collection also features a solid honey gold balance cock that is hand engraved in Lange tradition. Another feature of the collection is the distinctive guilloche motif on the dial. All of that reminds me of the Lange 1A.

The movement also features a unique finish, a sunburst and chased decoration reminiscent of vintage pocket watches. This is the only the second instance of a Lange without the conventional movement decoration, the other being the Wempe 1815 “Side-step”.

The first of the three watches is the Tourbograph Pour le Mérite, a rattrapante chronograph with tourbillon and chain-and-fusee mechanism. 50 of these will be made, completing the original 101 piece edition promised when the first Tourbograph in platinum was launched.

Below: Tourbograph F. A. Lange Homage

This is a lordly watch; remarkably expensive but also utterly impressive. This gold Tourbograph has a richness of colour that is amazing and I prefer it to the platinum Tourbograph which was too monochrome.

Below: Tourbograph L903.0

Second is the new Lange 1 tourbillon. Unlike the original this has the added feature of a hack seconds first seen the Cabaret tourbillon. Another improvement over the first Lange 1 tourbillon is the enlarged aperture for the tourbillon on the dial; on the first model the cut-out was too small, leaving the tourbillon looking constricted.

Above: 1 Tourbillon F. A. Lange Homage

As a result of the larger cut-out on the dial, one of the discs for the big date is sapphire so as not to obstruct the tourbillon cage. The exposed sapphire disc gives the watch a mildly informal look which is atypical for Lange. 150 of these will be made.

The last of the three pieces is the new 1815 Moonphase. Though this is mechanically identical to the original 1815 Moonphase, with the same one-day-deviation-in-1000-years accuracy of the moon phase, it looks completely different and is no less attractive. Especially fetching is the blue and gold moon phase display. 265 will be made.

Below: 1815 Moon Phase F. A. Lange Homage

Lange’s previous attempt at a luminous watch, the Lange 1 Luminous, did not really go anywhere. This year the brand remade the Grand Lange 1 Luminous and the new version is still uninteresting. However, Lange unveiled another luminous watch during the fair and this one is astonishing.

The Zeitwek Luminous watch is absolutely unconventional for the brand, it might even be considered avant-garde. This platinum Zeitwerk feature discs with luminous numbers and a translucent, grey-tinted sapphire dial. The dial allows the luminova numerals on the discs, not just in the window, to be charged during the day and reveals them at night. To complete the look, the German silver bridge on the dial is black PVD coated. During the day this has a dark, almost brooding look, but at night it glows tenaciously.

This avant-garde PVD Lange is utterly cool (yes, Lange und cool in the same sentence). It is a tad gimmicky, but the lesson is this: gimmicks are forgiven if a watch is truly high quality and innovative. Only 100 cool people will get to wear the Zeitwerk Luminous.

Though the Lange 1 Daymatic was the primary new movement, another new calibre was launched in the Richard Lange Referenzuhr. It features a seconds hand that can be reset with the button at 2 o’clock, meaning it can record periods of up to a minute and almost mostly not useful. But it is a novel small complication that is likeable and well finished.

Referenzuhr in platinum and rose gold  

Referenzuhr L033.1 

The other small complication presented was the Saxonia Annual Calendar. Available in white or rose gold, this watch uses the Langematik movement with a newly developed annual calendar mechanism. I’m lukewarm towards the design, which I find uninspired. But I like the idea of a Lange annual calendar tremendously. This is part of the Saxonia range, which is entry level, so this annual calendar is priced as such.

Saxonia Annual Calendar in white and rose gold  

Finally come three chronographs. The first is the revival of the 1815 chronograph, in white or rose gold. It features a much cleaner dial than the original which makes the lack of a big date less obvious. One reason why I did not like the first 1815 chronograph was the lopsided dial with the two sub-dials below. That is not so apparent here for some reason.

1815 Chronograph in rose and white gold  

Notably the movement is not identical to that of the original 1815 chronograph, instead this calibre has been improved with a 60 hour power reserve (compared to 36 for the original) that was achieved by using a new mainspring. The calibre also boasts Lange’s in-house hairspring and adjustable mass balance. Perhaps these upgrades may come to the Datograph when it returns from its hiatus.

New L951.5 of 1815 Chronograph, note in-house balance

Also, the Datograph Perpetual and Double Split are now available in rose gold with silver dials. Note that both watches have different dials from the platinum versions of the same watch. The new dials feature baton markers all round, instead of the alternating baton-Roman indices on the platinum watches. The change is subtle but gives the watch a very different look, cleaner and sleeker. Somehow I find the new dial works better with the Datograph Perpetual, probably because of its blue steel elements, while on the Double Split the new dial looks basic.

Double Split followed by Datograph Perpetual  

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