A. Lange & Söhne

Report on yesterday's Lange dinner in Paris

 

Yesterday, I had the chance with a group of French fans to attend a dinner organized by Lange Western Europe (Jacques and Lucia) at a famous restaurant in Paris: Apicius.

This event was a great opportunity for all of us to share our passion about the Saxonian Manufacture and to enjoy a very nice dinner in a warm atmosphere of friendship. I always write the same but believe me, the "Lange Family" is a true concept, you can feel it when you meet people from the Manufacture. There is a special touch when Lange organizes an event, all the attendees feel very comfortable, it is classy and relaxed at the same time.

The great surprise was the presence of Claudia and Martin of the Lange Akademie and they didn't come with empty pockets! They brought with them a wide selection of the 2012 novelties. And it was something unexpected because only a few pieces of the 2012 collection are travelling through the Globe to be presented to ADs or to collectors. We were very honoured by Claudia and Martin's presence and by the ability to discover in the metal these novelties.

Jacques and Lucia were as always perfect hosts and we spent a wonderful evening sharing with the Lange team and between them our feelings about the current collection, our expectations, our wishes.

I propose to share with you a lot of pics of this event.

I) Atmosphere

Apicius is a very prestigious restaurant located in a mansion  right in the center of Paris close to Champs Elysées. The scenery was ideal for such gathering!

II) Attendees

Guests are coming:

As you can see, a very relaxed atmosphere:

The charm of the ladies:

The Lange team, Lucia, Jacques, Claudia and Martin:

One of the guests is fascinated by the moving dial of the Richard Lange Tourbillon:

Lucia explains to a guest why the 2012 Ladies' watch uses an automatic movement. Bad news for his wallet, sure that her spouse was seduced by it during the dinner!

III) 2012 collection watches

Obviously, a lot of the attendees were expecting a lot to discover the new Datograph. Some expressed a kind of relief, despite the new size, it didn't appear to be too big on their wrists. I like a lot this watch despite its enlarged case. I know that it brings endless discussions when compared to the "classic" Datograph but I really think that Lange team did it well, especially when you have to consider that creating an evolution of an iconic watch is always a difficult mission.

It will never replace the classic Datograph in the heart of the collectors but it is currently one of the ultimate chronographs of the industry.

The WG Saxonia Thin symbolizes the purest offer from Lange: two hands, neutral colours... It is without any doubt a very elegant watch and I like its slender side.

But I would have prefered a more daring attitude about the dial. This watch was giving a perfect opportunity to use a blue or a black dial. It is the reason why I still prefer the PG version.

My fav of the year is maybe the new Grand Lange 1: smaller than the previous version, it features the balanced dial lay-out of the original Lange 1.

 

The Lange 1 Timezone gets the "night owls" style and it works pretty well, actually much better than with the Lange 1 which was too quiet for my taste.

As I wrote before, Ladies' watch becomes automatic... which is a clever move!

The novelties all together with 2 surprises:

The 2 surprises were the Zeitwerk YG and the Richard Lange Tourbillon, two of the most original Lange watches of the last years:

Even if I love this Zeitwerk, my fav version by far is the WG one:

The Richard Lange Tourbillon is a very intriguing watch. Lange creates a problem (the large bridge over the Tourbillon)... and at the same time, solves it by using a moving dial.

I would love to see this watch without a Tourbillon and with an enamel dial... to be totallt faithfull to the original pocket watch.

The Lange 1 Tourbillon PC was sadly not present but at least, the Richard Lange Tourbillon gave us a beautiful view on a Tourbillon.

IV) The courses

Shall I need to add that it was a fantastic dinner?

Just have a look at the Menu:

You don't speak French? Don't worry, here come the pictures!

An original way to eat crab:

This is what I call a complex Langoustine!

They are proud of this huge pieces of veal and they are right!

Perfectly cooked:

The Soufflé was delicious:

V) The watches brought by the guests

Lange fans brought their watches of course. Sadly I didn't shoot all of them but you can enjoy this selection:

PT Zeitwerk:

PG Cabaret:

Datograph Perpetual:

Old vs new 1815, you can feel the 4mm of difference but you have the same pleasure when you have them of the wrist:

One of the differences is the hands material:

New vs old Datograph, 13 years of difference...

My report is over now with this last pic which creates a   kind of hyphen between two periods of Lange history.

I would like to thank a lot the whole Lange Team for the perfect organization, for the kindness, the availability and the in-depth explanations. I know that all the guests appreciated a lot the event and the ability to discover quite quickly after SIHH the 2012 novelties. But the most important was to share all together our passion for Lange.

Fr.Xavier