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My new watch: LONG with lots of pictures (15MB).
Last friday I left home to visit one of the two Authorized Lange Dealerships in my small Country, The Netherlands. One could consider my country, although rich with water and rivers, to be a watch-desert, since there arent that many high-end dealerships around. The one I visited is an AD for Lange (since April/May 2002), Patek (since May 2004), IWC, Breguet, Blancpain, Chronoswiss, Ebel, JLC, Cartier, Rolex and some other brands. They have two stores, one selling mostly jewellery (and the Cartier watches) while the other store has a mix of Watches and jewellery. This Dealership resides in the deepest south of The Netherlands in a very very nice city called Maastricht.
I dont like driving a car for more then an hour or so, and I decided to travel by train. If I would have travelled by car it would have cost me 3 or 3.5 hours to get there, and by train it takes just 4 hours. According to a local friend you can get from where I live to Maastricht in less then 2 hours ... but then he drives a company BMW 535 diesel (you know that magnificent new BI-turbo engined one) and makes it a sport to get his average speed higher then 200kmph every time he drives on the Autobahn in Germany (I live very close, 5 km, to the German border btw). My style of driving is a little different 
Anyway, I decided to go by train. I took the 9.00 o?clock train and arrived on 13:00 in Maastricht. The Hotel I booked is immediately adjecent to the train station, so checking in was done in just 15 minutes after the train had arrived. I took my camera from my suitcase, brushed my teeth and another 5 minutes later I entered the jeweler, who?s address is the ?Station Street? and yes that is close to the train station (and the hotel as well) .
Now I was in the candystore. Lets party and tast all those different flavors!
This first picture could benefit from the use of some cropping, but I didnt since it, accidentely of course, shows THE reason for my trip to the dealer in Maastricht: the Tradition by Breguet was in/on my head/mind
In one word WOW, I did expect much and the Breguet surely delivered.
What a nice watch, and how different then most of the other watches that either keep me awake at night or are the stars in my daydreams. I really love it. It is strange that (almost) all the action takes place at the dial side since I am so used to flipping over a watch to have a look at the back ... I flipped-over the Tradition a number of times only to realize that it wasnt needed.
On the backside of the watch there is however that nice lever, I dont know how to call it but it prevents the spring from unwinding (is it called a ?click??), that moves very gently, almost as being hydraulicly actuated.
and the backside is very nice as well:
The size of the Breguet is just right, it isnt very thick and it doesnt have a big diameter. Winding the Tradition is kind of different compared to the silky smooth winding of a Lange-1 but it felt just right for this Tradition watch.
Defining the case color is a little difficult to do, as the movement is so shiny (perhaps due to the lights at the Jeweler, but the guilded/frosted movement reflects any light in any direction, so to tell the color of the case material is hard) but it seems that the case is (indeed) a little more red compared to the yellow movement. We compared the color of the Tradition with another fine watch ... the Patek 3940 in a Tonneau case (I cannot remember the ref number):
Although I dont know a lot about Patek watches I do like this reference a lot. The different case, compared to the round 3940, but with the round railroad minute track makes this sample much more interesting ... I get back to that later.
Time to try the Tradition on the wrist:
Fantastic. The spokes of the wheels do look very nice. The balance makes a very angry-looking movement. There is a lot going on to see and marvel at.
Next step, another tradition entered the arena:
What a nice watch and heavy too btw. It made the trip from Switserland over to the Netherlands for a client of the jeweler that wanted to have a look at a PW. Real tradition !!
Next, Lange?s latest watch. This Platinum one had just arrived at the jeweler:
First impression was that it is a quite a bit larger and thicker then a regular Lange. The dial looked somewhat lighter compared to my beloved Lange-1 Stealth and it lacks some ?depth? too, compared to the rhodinated dial on my Stealth.
The gmt-button is very nice and smooth with a positive feedback. Berlin replaces Paris on the dial (I hope Francois doesnt mind that!). Seeing both the minute hands move simultaneously is very nice (it reminds me of the olympic games as that is the only occasion I see watersports on TV, and the simultaneous-water-acrobatics, or whatever this dicipline is called, is what the Lange did remind me of ... please stop laughing now) and the small seconds hand is lovely to watch too.
Here is a wristshot:
The circle sectors, indicating night, are darker then I expected them to be compared to when I saw the first pictures of this watch. I would have loved to see the YG version of this watch but at the time of my visit only the PT was available. Another time perhaps.
The watch feels good on the wrist but I think it is quite a large watch and wears, unexpected by YT, bigger then a Datograph. It is larger in diameter but thinner as well. The back of the watch is beautiful with the extra wheels.
OK, and now, for something completely different:
I have to admit that I hated this watch from the pictures I have seen of it in the past, but in the metal it is very nice and oozes(sp?) class. I dont think that it is very legible though, with all the abbreviations on the dial.
Lots of different, and very nice, guilloche patterns on this dial too. The most beautiful part are the guilloched clouds in the moonphase display ... FANTASTIC (at that point I knew what I forgot to take with me from home: my 10x loupe). Winding the watch was super smooth, more like my Lange-1 and not at all comparable to the Tradition.
A picture of the back:
I dont think I have to say much about this. Mouth watering. Completely different compared to Lange movements! The mainspring was visible from the back too (in an effort to create a thin movement as explained to me, not something I think we will see in the near future on a German originating watch I guess). The off-center rotor (a ?feature? also used to be able to create a thin movement) was very nice to see too since it completely changes the view/looks of this (almost) full rotor automatic watch. The decoration of the movement and rotor is fantastic and, for some reason, not to loud, imo. With all those little lightbulbs at the jeweler (in the ceiling and in the displaycases) looking at the back was a thrilling sight!
A groupshot:
Next watch ...
Getting acquainted(sp?) with a stablemate: "" Hello brother ""
The Anniversary is a SUPER classy watch. The enamel dial is mind boggling beautiful and boy do I like the railroadtrack and the blued hands. The latter vary in color from deep black to medium blue depending on the incedent light and the angle with which you look at the hands. No matter the perceived color of the hands, it always makes very legible combination with the white dial. The watch is small compared to the Lange-1 and Dato I am familiar with. Luckily the white dial makes the watch ?look? bigger. I think that the watches thickness (or lack there off, relatively speaking of course since there are lots of thinner watches around but this is a Lange) has a lot to do with the perceived size of the Anniversary.
I like the Zero reset complication. Although I think it is a nice ?Lange twist? in the Sax-0-Mat movement, it is not very usefull since Lange movements hack. If I set the time on my Lange?s I always wait for the seconds-hand to reach the zero seconds marker because the minute hand then is perfectly alligned with a minute index on the dial. But seeing the secondshand jump to zero is very nice. The crown is rather small which, since it is an automatic caliber, makes perfectly sense, but it takes me some getting used too. I do miss a date display.
OK next ... the salesperson and I are talking about a couple of things and he mentions that he has a DS in his safe ... not for long though, as the following picture shows:
Nice tray dont you agree. The DS was shown to me during my visit to the Lange Manufaktur last year May and I was very impressed with the smoothness the buttons did operate with and it is really a fun watch to play with. It is very legible ! But it is very big. The watch I saw in Glashuette was on the smaller strap and Lange changed it and made it wider a mm or two and iirc it is now 22mm wide (someone please correct me if I am wrong). This wide lugwidth makes the watch look even bigger then it already is. I think it will look better with a smaller strap.
Look at the next image?s: giant-dwarf comparisson
I think I prefer the Dato over the DoubleSplit sizewise, but the doublesplit complication is very addictive!!! So never accuse me of not having warned you! You can even actuate the split function and stop and reset or flyback the ?main? chrono seconds hand and the split time (both minutes and seconds) will remain visible on the dial until you actuate the split button a second time.
A couple of wristshots of the Double Split:
Next I wanted to compare the feeling of the DS to that of a small Lange, the Anniversary.
According to the salesperson, the Anniversary isnt small at all. He proved his point by introducing me to this watch at the left:
Yes, there is another new one in the second picture above. A watch with a story ...luckily a very short story. Later ...
But first I tried the small watch. I did wear a 3940 before but it didnt do anything for me. I respect it, of course, since it is a very small yet complicated watch, but other then that it didnt excite me in any way.
I guess I have to adjust my oppinion regarding the 3940 as I liked it alot and it looked good on my wrist. Well, that is just my oppinion of course. I think it isnt a watch that suits jeans or a t-shirt though!
Perhaps you know about my wish-list, with the Stealth and Dato already in my small ?collection?, but missing in my collection are the RG Lange-1 moonphase and a Lange-1 in YG with blued hands. The dealer didnt have the latter in stock so we used a Saxonia to get an idea of what a YGSDBH Lange-1 would look like. The Dato is missing from these pictures but the combination looks very nice wouldnt you agree:
and
But now back to that story I talked about earlier ... the RG Lange-1 Moon ... it was sold just the other day, so the sample as shown to me wasnt available to take home with me that day.
I was able to wear it, of course, and did feel that is was very nice but very different compared to my Stealth and very different to the Anniversary as well. It is as if the glass on the RG Lange is missing and that you can touch the hands with your fingers. An amazing view! I did wear both the Anniversary and the RG moonphase and the first grew on me whereas the RG Lange-1 left me feeling a little hesitant ... do I want a non white metal watch??
The tradition is to loud for me, that much was clear, at least at this moment in time. I know that that watch will trigger responses of people since it is very loud, imo, due to all the visible parts (and the frosted movement) reflecting every ray of indecent light. And the view of the RG Lange on one wrist and the Anniversary on the other wrist made me realize that te Anniversary was the watch to take home with me. Part of the decision was fueled by the fact that it is a LE watch while the Lange-1 RG with moonphase isnt and probably still is available for quite sometime.
So sometime later this was lying in the hotel room:
Closer view:
The drawing was made for me by my son ... I told him that daddy was going to have a look at a number of watches ... guess he can read between the lines and understood that his daddy was on a holy mission ... but I later learned that the person in the drawing was my son himself lying on his bed WITH his bear next to him.
Later that night I had dinner with the sales person. He is a very nice man and I enjoyed the meal and the conversation. One thing that was rather funny was that we ate Dauphine potatoes
We talked about lots of things, watches and personal things. I learned that I had to go back to the jeweler the next day since the salesperson hadnt shown me a watch that I desperately wanted to see. It was already sold and being a rather LE watch made me feel confident that I wouldnt be struck by buyersremorse when confronted with a view of that other watch:
What a nice watch. PAM 0080 Seconde Morte with a Chezard movement. I was in love instantly, although I think the watch is quite big with the 40mm diameter and has a rather protruding crown. The blue dial is very nice and reminds me of my fathers watch from years ago.
The back has a see through glass with an integrated loupe (I am sorry; there probably is a better word for what I am refering to but you know what I mean) immediately above the part of the movement responsible for the jumping seconds hand
Looking through it (with the aid of an additional loupe) shows the movement of a wheel that moves a little bit for 4 times and moves a second(s) wheel on the 5th ... I hope I counted right here. It was a very nice view!! The watch was already sold and being a WG 18kt watch, it isnt cheap ... but I know that I want a seconde morte watch in my collection someday!!!! Perhaps I might one day own a Breguet Tradition too ... look at this image of, at least to me, a very diverse collection:
It looks very good on my wrist too, imo, although, as I mentioned before, I think it is a big watch and I might experience the same problems as I did when I owned the IWC BigPilot: the crown forming callus on the top of my hand:
I, reluctantly, let go of the watch.
In the mean time a man, with his wife and daughter, passed the table I was sitting at, and guess what that man was wearing ... yes ... the RG Lange-1 with moonphase. Not feeling envious at all at that time made me realize I made the right choice with the Anniversary!
In the end I was shown this watch too.
The back of the watch is very nice (as most Chopard watches are btw), but the dial isnt my cup of coffee. I asked for this watch to have an opportunity to take a picture or two of the deployant (Craig, I know it isnt a 1.96 but perhaps the following pictures are of some help to you)
I left the store... my train was leaving.
I knew of a Namiki dealership in Maastricht and did visit them earlier that morning: the salesperson was very well informed about Namiki and the processes and materials involving making Maki-E fountain pens. It was very obvious that she loved the Namiki pens from the enthousiasm displayed while telling me about them.
While looking for that Pen store, I passed a watch shop with, among many other watches, an IWC Portuguese FA Jones which looked very nice. But something else got me very intersted ... an IWC BigPilot on a (400+ Euro) black croc original OEM strap. I have never seen a watch with that strap before, other then my own sample which I traded last year for the Dato ... I think I need to call this store and ask if that BP is my ?old? watch.
I took the 12:30 train with my feet hurting: Never go shopping on new, not broken in, shoes!
I would love to take this opportunity and thank Jean and Luud for the time and effort invested just to make my stay in Maastricht so very pleasant. And, last but not least, thanks to all here, moderator and regulars, who make this forum such a wonderfull place to hang out at and learn about watches. Much and much appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Edwin
