foversta[PuristSPro Moderator]
20814
Part 7: the 1815 Up and Down (Press Release)
Feb 02, 2013,03:07 AM
An extra hand: 1815 UP/DOWN
The
sublimely perfect four-hand 1815 UP/DOWN with a power-reserve indicator
reflects the A. Lange & Söhne style in its purest form. The
number 1815 in its name refers to the birth year of the founder of Saxon
precision watchmaking, Ferdinand A. Lange – its design is inspired by
his legendary pocket watches.
A four-hand classic:
1815 UP/DOWNA. Lange & Söhne’s
1815 stands for noble understatement at the pinnacle of horology. Its
three-day movement has now been paired with a power-reserve mechanism.
In the new 1815 UP/DOWN, an additional blued-steel hand at 8 o’clock
indicates how long the watch will continue to run before having to be
rewound. The display with AUF for the fully wound and AB for the fully
unwound movement is a traditional A. Lange & Söhne
characteristic that dates back to a patent granted in
1879.
The principle employed in the
1815 UP/DOWN also relies on a patent filed by Otto Lange, one of the
grandsons of the manufactory’s founder. His invention was specially
conceived for slender watches: a planetary gear system integrated in the
movement drives the display without requiring extra vertical space.
Lange adopted the same approach for the power-reserve indicator of the
1815 UP/DOWN. On the plate side, two additional gold chatons in the
three-quarter plate made of German silver refer to the presence of the
power-reserve mechanism. Despite the supplementary 57 parts, the L051.2
manufacture movement has exactly the same dimensions as that of the 1815
without the UP/DOWN indicator: a height of 4.6 millimetres and a
diameter of 30.6 millimetres. Beneath the hand-engraved balance cock, a
classic screw balance and an indexless oscillator assure optimised rate
accuracy together with a balance spring developed and manufactured
in-house, which is calibrated to a frequency of 21,600 semioscillations
per hour.
With its 245 parts
lavishly finished by hand, manufacture calibre L051.2 features a host of
hallmarks that underscore Lange’s watchmaking artistry: they include
chamfered and polished edges, Glashütte ribbing on the three quarter
plate, gold chatons secured with blued screws, the polished endpiece of
the escape-wheel cock, and winder wheels decorated with solarisation
that are visibly integrated in the plate. The case and prong buckle of
the 1815 UP/DOWN are crafted from 18-carat yellow, white, or pink gold;
all model variations have an argenté dial made of solid silver. Superb
legibility is guaranteed thanks to black numerals and blued-steel hands.
With a railwaytrack minute scale, Arabic numerals, and symmetrically
arranged subsidiary dials for the power-reserve indicator and the small
seconds, the 1815 UP/DOWN pays tribute to the style elements of Lange’s
acclaimed pocket watches, now transposed in a contemporary way to the
dimensions of a wristwatch.