foversta recounts an exclusive lunch event hosted by the Lange Western Europe team, offering a glimpse into A. Lange & Söhne's upcoming plans and novelties. This report captures the intimate atmosphere of collector gatherings and provides insights into the brand's engagement with its community and market presence in Paris.
A few days ago, I had the chance to attend a lunch organised by the Lange Western Europe team, Jacques Thomas and Lucia Toro. As always, the big pleasure of this kind of event comes from the ability to meet the team and the other guests. Of course, as you can imagine in France at the beginning of September, the first minutes of the discussion were dedicated to the summer Holidays! But quickly Jacques Thomas started to browse us the very last news from Lange and the upcoming events during the last quarter of the year.
Obviously the key event for Lange in Paris will be the opening of the boutique rue de la Paix in partnership with Dubail, the parisian AD. We don't have any precise date for the time being but it is expected to be around the end of November.
Lange won't be present at the Salon Belles Montres but will participate at the "Les Montres" event (8th - 10th November) organized by "Les Montres" boutique. So, and it is a special message to the French members, this event which will take place on the Left Bank of Paris will be the last opportunity till the end of the year to have a comprehensive view of the 2012 collection.
Jacques and Lucia came with it for the lunch, only the Lange 1 Tourbillon PC was missing, it seems to be very complicated to see this timepiece now. Once I saw it at the SIHH, I was not able to see it again except a version without movement at the Salon de Greef. Anyway, the other pieces of the collection were available for my deepest pleasure.
I propose you to browse them.
First of all, let's start with the atmosphere of the lunch:
The 2012 collection with a representative of the 2011 one (the PG Saxonia Thin):
The WG Timezone and its luminous hands. I call it the Timezone "Night Owls" due to the fact that it gests the similar decoration style than this Lange 1!
It is a watch I really like, less that the PG case, slate dial version but I find that these bright colours work pretty well with the busy dial.
Each time, I like the Datograph Up&Down more and more. The power reserve indicator remains very discreet and the enlarged case has a good size for my wrist.
But my fav of the year is maybe the Grand Lange 1 in PT. In a sense, I regret the special character of the previous Grand Lange 1 with the overalapping circles on the dial which created an unique atmosphere in the Lange collection. But the dial of the new version is really beautiful thanks to its balance. Morevover, I like the thickness/diameter ratio of the case which gives this very slender and elegant style. It is actually a very different watch from its previous version and I can easily imagine that a Grand Lange 1 lover could be tempted to own both.
This is a brand new movement with a single barrel in order to get a thinner height. But the 72 hours of the power reserve were preserved.
A lady came in front of the whole 2012 collection (it was the first time she saw it) and said: WOW, this one is fantastic. She was speaking about the PT Grand Lange 1... and I always trust the 6th sense of the ladies!
The WG Saxonia Thin is a very nice watch but too boring for my taste. I wrote it several times but with a black or a blue dial, this watch would have been fantastic! I have a feeling of a missed opportunity, an opportunity to enlarge the dial colours available. Dear Lange Team, please do a new version with a darker dial...
The Saxonia Thin movement has an unique lay-out in the Lange collection due to its small thickness:
With the PG version of the previous year on the right:
The big asset of this watch is its elegance. The indexes bring the subtle touch of originality. The question is to know if the watch is not a bit too large. The empty space on the bottom side of the dial is on the pic a bit too big for my taste. It is the reason why I think, without moving the case size, a darker dial would have been better IMHO.
Ladies were not forgotten in the 2012 collection with these 3 automatic watches combining set bezel and MOP dial:
The 2012 collection may appear to be very quiet when compared with some others. But it is made of very clever moves: the new Grand Lange, the evolution of the Datograph, the automatic Ladies' watches. But I still have some pending wishes like the come-back of the Sax-o-Mat movement in a simpler watch (it powers now only the two calendar watches) and the higher presence of black or blue dial in the collection. SIHH 2013 will come very quickly now (time is flying...) and we will get some answers. In the meantime, we will have the chance in Paris to have our own "Lange temple" before the end of the year and these are the best news French Lange lovers could expect.
Thanks a lot for the Lange Team for the perfect organisation of the event.
Fx
