A. Lange & Söhne 2012 SIHH Novelties Overview

This year, Lange unveiled 5 watches.

One is a real novelty, the Lange One Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar.

Two can be seen as a deep evolution of two famous models, the Datograph Up - Down, and the Grande Lange one.

And the two last models, the Lange One Time Zone and the Saxonia Thin, received some slight changes.

Let's see all these watches in the detail.

1/ The true novelty: Lange One Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar:

- The Perpetual Calendar is complete:

A big date, at 11 o' clock, the day, which is retrograde, located between 8 and 10 o' clock, the month, displayed on a ring in the outside part of the dial, a leap year at 6 o' clock, the famous Lange moonphase, and a day night indicator, in the Time subdial.

- The Tourbillon receives an unsual technical refinement: A stop second, and Lange had the good idea to put it on the back side, to not " charge " the dial too much.

The case, in platinum or in rose gold, is 41, 9 mm big, and 12, 2 mm high.



A view on the Cal L 082.1, which, to be complete, offers a 50 hours power reserve.



Technically impressive, the decoration and the finish are conform to what we are in right to expect from Lange.

The Perpetual Calendar is legible, clean, very Lange.

But go figure why, I am not moved by it... Maybe because of this Big Rotor, which I really don't like.

2/ The In Depht Evolutions:

- The Grande Lange one.

On the former Grande Lange One, I didn't like the interpenetrating seconds, and minutes / hours subdials.

Here, Lange entirely revisited this model, to improve the balance of the dial.

The Big Date is bigger, the subdials are not overlapping anymore... These aesthetical improvements are more than welcome, from my point of view.

And wait, Lange also revisited the movement, which is now the Cal L 095.1 ( 72 hours power reserve ).

The case is slightly smaller than the previous one, with a diamter of 40, 9 mm, now, and the height is 8, 8 mm only, which gives a thin and very elegant look to the watch.

It is available in platinum, rose or yellow gold.





This Grande Lange One in platinum is so deliciously icy in platinum!



Give me a black dial, and I may include it in my collection.

- The Datograph Up / Down:

It is always a dangerous game to play with an icon....

The Datograph, launched in 1999, was, at this time, and is still nowadays, considered as an Icon.

Yes, it had some flaws: The big bezel, the short power reserve, the lack of zero for the first 9 days of the Date, but we can also say that its relative flaws were its strenght, too.

Lange gives a bigger case to the Datograph which is now 41 mm, which is 2 mm more, the baton hands replace the roman indexes, and the power reserve indicator ala Double Split is now installed, located just above 6 o' clock.

Technically, Lange improved the movement, by offering it an increased power reserve of 60 hours, versus the 36 hours of the original Datograph.











The first impression I had when looking at the press files pictures was the good one.

I am disappointed by this evolution.

A one or two millimeters bigger case, why not.

The baton indexes instead of the roman numbers, why not.

But this power reserve at 6 o' clock is a big no go, for me.

It ruins the DNA of the Datograph, in my book, which was this famous triangle between the two silver subdials and the big date.

It adds something technical, it removes the strong balance of the original model.

Here is a comparison picture, between the original and the new one:



But, at least, you wil stilll find the superb movement, one of the nicest chronograph movement ever made, a feast for the eyes.

The Cal L 951.6, in all its beauty:



3/ The slight evolutions:

- Lange One Time Zone:

Nothing spectacular, here.

Those who complained about the no luminous hands will be happy to know and to see that, this year, all the hands are luminous.

And that it is now avalaible in white gold ( same dimensions: 41, 9 mm big / 11 mm high ).









Another nice movement:



- My favourite, this year, which was also my favourite, last year, is the Saxonia Thin, now also available in ... Platinum, and in White Gold.

Thin, we can say... It is only 5, 9 mm high, for a diameter of 40 mm, which is maybe a tad too big for such a watch.

Around 37 or 38 mm, it would be a bomb!

The issue of a 40 mm case for such a watch?

The movement looks a bit lost:



But what a watch!

Ultra sober, ultra elegant, ultra understated, ultra cold:





I can't imagine the ravages this watch would cause with a black dial and two millimeters smaller!

I would like to thank Gaetan for his warm welcome at the Lange Booth, for his disponibility despite the effervescence during the SIHH, and for his friendship.

Looking forward to reading your comments,

Best.

Nicolas. This message has been edited by amanico on 2012-01-21 00:52:42 This message has been edited by amanico on 2012-01-25 20:56:12