A. Lange & Söhne

amerix
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Honey Gold - just want the facts

Today I picked up a copy of the german Chronos, with a bonus mag from "Tribune des Arts" featuring A. Lange & Söhne.

This is a glorious and accurately translated bi-lingual presentation, although the material is mostly provided by ALS itself, that any of us here would be glad to have!

However, I would like to ask all of you a question about honey gold.

Many of us have heard that silicon (silicium) was used in the process, making Lange the first company to use silicon in the case, and not for the hair spring or escapment wheel. At least that's the way I understood it.

But let's get serious.

Tribune des Artes writes, and I quote:

"A. Lange & Söhne uses only gold with a finess of 750/1000. In this respect, 18-carat white gold without any admixture of palladium, nickel, or silver is the point of departure."

Well, you have to mix the 1000 chemically pure gold with something to bring it down to the 750 of 18kr gold: red, yellow or white. OK, you have to take something out of the white gold mix to add something else, bringing it back to 750. Besides, using nickel is banned in the European Union for the case, because of the ions causing skin allergies or even getting into the blood stream. Palladium is a good choice - for white gold - but here we are dealing with honey gold!

"The scintillating honey hue is due to the carefully balanced addition of small amounts of copper, zinc, and manganese. What is more a special thermal process is applied to harden this new precious metal to about 320 Vickers, roughly twice as much as ordinary gold. These are the hard facts concerning Lange's honey-coloured gold."

These may be the "hard facts", but where does silicon get into the act - just a pinch of it in the thermal sauce, for spice, color (colour) and flavour (flavor)?

Some clarification - like clarified butter - would be greatly appreciated, especially from ALS - without giving away their cooking temperature and secret recipe.

amerix This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:30:17 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:32:02 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:39:56 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:50:59 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:51:35 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 12:53:36 This message has been edited by amerix on 2010-08-12 13:04:07