A. Lange & Söhne

Lange at the 2011 Salon QP

 

One week after the Salon "Les Montres" in Paris, I crossed the Channel to enjoy another exhibition by Lange at the Salon QP in London. I couldn't miss this opportunity because it was the last chance to see such gathering of Lange watches before the end of the year... good way to refresh the memory before the upcoming SIHH!

Taking advantage of the Saatchi Gallery, the Lange booth was much larger than the week before, giving a more comfortable atmosphere to the visitors... and to the Lange Western Europe team, Lucia and Jacques.

Of course, there was no big surprise, no hidden novely but the big pleasure to discuss with friends and to handle again some of the 2011 novelties was in my mind.

As you know, 2011 is a more important year for Lange than it may appear at first glance: the new design of the Saxonia collection, the first Striking watch, 5 new movements, the year was very busy. Why this feeling is not shared amongst Lange fans? Maybe because these novelties are more dedicated to new customers than to the older ones. One typical example of the new strategy is the increasing use of  automatic movements with central rotors. We know the reasons behind this central rotor and why it is gold-platted, I will not come back to them here.

Anyway, I decided to shoot some watches... to get a good overview of the current Lange collection: novelties, previous years watches, simple or complicated ones, let's browse some of them!

The Saxonia Dual Time: after the Annual Calendar, the Saxonia collection houses another "useful" complication.

A new movement based on the central rotor Automatic one:

Even if I still prefer the previous version of the 1815 chronograph, i find now the current version more beautiful than when I first saw it. Its pure and sober dial makes it very attractive.

With the balance wheel, we can easily make the difference between the old and new movement. As you are aware of, new movement gets a larger power reserve. Is time coming for the Datograph to also get this improvement?

I often say that the Richard Lange Tourbillon PLM is the crossroads between 3 worlds: accuracy (Tourbillon), stability (chaîne&fusée) and kinematic (moving dial). The material used for the moving part of the dial is the same than for the central rotor.

 

The movement is like lace:

And not-so old favourite, the beauty of simplicity... please release a WG version of the Richard Lange with a black or at least anthracite dial!

The seductive central second hand:

Elegant, balanced, I'm in love!

The Lange 1 Night Owls is far from being my fav Lange 1. I don't like the use of the luminous hands and the overall style lacks of contrast, of spice.

We go to the opposite side of the collection with the PG Double-Split.

I think that I prefer the dial with the numerals.

We can spend hours watching this 3D movement...

I must confess I really like the Saxonia Annual Calendar. It may appear as a downgraded Langematik Perpetual (and it is actually movement speaking) but the dial is very balanced and there is a very special charm in this watch.

Due to the base of the movement, we can appreciate the presence of the 3/4 rotor. A joy for our eyes!

As i told you before, the booth was large and comfortable with good lights:

I would like to thank  a lot Lucia and Jacques (the Latin touch of the Saxonian brand!) for the time they spent with me!



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