A. Lange & Söhne

I know your are trying to spin this but there is no need refer to someone's new acquisition as a "Franken watch" because Cellini may not have been responsible for changing the hands.
Tony

let's keep it to watches and our passion for and different opinions on them! (your life advice and suggestions, not so useful ). I have and loved Fraken watches in my collection (like a Bamford), what's wrong with them? You seem to be taking it personally. Very strange and disconcerting. I am worried. Hope everything is ok! Take care and all the best.

... actually came from Lange with those blue steel hands or if they were changed later. Cellini sold both blue-handed and "standard" white gold-handed 101.025 watches, so it's certainly possible that someone could've bought a standard model from them and had the hands swapped later, to the less common but more legible blue steel hands. There's no way to tell, as far as I know,  and the papers would be the same, I believe. Such swaps happened with dials as well. For example, this Langematik was born with a black dial, but when a Lange collector (the original owner) was on a factory tour over 17 years ago and said to the former CEO of Lange, "It's too bad this watch doesn't have a blue dial," all of a sudden it emerged from Lange looking like this:

This message has been edited by CR on 2016-08-02 17:27:50

That dial is perfect for this watch! Wish Lange made this in production, you're lucky to have it

First, I had a good friend who spotted it on eBay and told me about it. Second, it was listed on eBay only because an auction house took too long to authenticate it (due to its unique dial), which frustrated the seller and caused him just to sell it himself. Third, nobody else grabbed it first (I know one other collector who was about to buy it). And fourth -- best of all -- the seller (I learned after contacting him) was someone who was a very prolific poster about 15 years earlier and wrote many posts that I remembered enjoying reading, so it was nice to finally connect with him (he just lost interest in watches so decided to sell everything).

Fate clearly meant for you to have this Craig!

101.025 if I don't mistake but indeed surprising blue hands... This message has been edited by Mike H on 2016-07-31 14:10:46

I love the blue hands, looks like the 101.027x to me at first glance.  

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At first I also thought it was the 101.027x till I realized the Roman numerals were raised and not printed.

It must be stunning in the metal, the owner has exquisite taste!

Having had both the 101.027x and the 'regular' 101.025.. I have to say the notion of having applied indications and the Rhodium dial belonging to the 101.025 combined with the blued hands would be my ideal combination.

I do love the blued hands of the .027x, however the lightness of the dial gives me pause on occasion due to it becoming 'washed out' in high levels of sunlight due to the white-ish dial. I did not find that was the case with the 101.025.

Thank you for sharing this peculiar and beautiful lange 1 Ken!






This message has been edited by colton_d on 2016-08-02 16:22:58

... And it is actually in Platinum case and applied index makes slight, but very interesting spice added )

Thanks, Colton!

I had the X too and the "washed out" feel of the dial after a while is what made me sell it. Looks like I wasn't alone. Hope you're well!

It's funny, I had the opposite reaction back when I was comparing various models (about 15 years ago). I really wanted the platinum "Stealth" Lange 1 due to the heft of the platinum, but the Stealth's rhodium dial struck me as dull and lifeless under many lighting conditions. It was almost, but not quite, appealing. I definitely didn't love it as much as others did. [I had the same reaction to the rhodium dial on the PT Langematik with Big Date, which I was also looking at back then.] I also saw a blue-handed Stealth several times because a local collector used to own one for a brief time. I thought the blue hands certainly made the watch more legible -- an advantage over the regular Stealth -- but the blue hands also made the rhodium dial color look even duller due to the increased contrast. I again thought, "This is disappointing -- not quite right." While this was going on, I noticed that I really loved the look of Lange's rhodium dial -- that same color rhodium dial -- on the platinum 1815s (regular, Up/Down, etc. -- my then-local AD had several 1815 models in stock). I was puzzled that I liked the rhodium dial on some models (1815) but not others (Lange 1, Langematik). I then realized this was probably because I preferred the black printed markers (vs. applied markers) on this sort of metallic gray dial. [I ended up getting a white gold Lange 1 MOP guilloche rather than the Stealth because I just didn't like the Stealth dial enough.] Then, several years later, I saw the 027X dial for the first time and was amazed. I thought that metallic silver dial, with highly contrasting subdials and black printed markers, was far more vibrant and appealing than the Stealth dial. I immediately realized that I definitely would've gotten the 027X years earlier (and instead of the MOP guilloche model) if I had known about it then, but of course I didn't because the 027X wasn't in catalogs, etc. I did get an 027X many years later (from someone very involved in this thread, in fact).

Coincidentally, just 2 days ago, I was talking with another 027X owner about the 027X dial and remarking about how "alive" and ever-changing that dial was -- how it reacted magically (that was the word I used) to different lighting conditions and how I couldn't stop staring at it. It's like the Pokemon Go of Lange dials -- I'm always looking down.

So now, after this thread, I really want to compare the 027X dial to a Stealth dial again, in various lighting conditions, and see if I feel differently. I'd also like to hear from someone who owns (or has owned) both the 025 and the 027X at the same time and has done side-by-side comparisons regularly, in the same indoor and outdoor lighting conditions. And I'm also now curious if there were significant variations in the color/sheen of various dial batches on both the Lange 1 rhodium dial and perhaps the 027X dial. Lange certainly changed the rhodium dial color/sheen of the PT Perpetual significantly over the years -- it went from what I describe as a duller/matte/pinkish dial to a brighter metallic silver dial -- and I've been told by a few Datograph collectors/owners that Lange changed the subdial color/sheen on the original Datograph dial as well. Now I wonder if the Lange 1 Stealth dial might've had some variation in color/sheen over time. [Apologies for the long post, guys. I spent a lot of time years ago looking at these rhodium dials, and now it's all coming back to me! ] This message has been edited by CR on 2016-08-04 05:40:21

I am posting this for the benefit of anyone who is trying to decide between purchasing a Lange 1 with rhodium dial/applied markers (PT case, 101.025) versus one with a silver dial/printed markers (typically WG or YG case, 101.027X or 101.022). The other day, I had occasion to compare two Lange 1s, one with each of these dial types. I again came away with the same feeling that I had the last time I made this comparison (over a decade ago): I like the silver dial/printed markers far more. But others who have made this same comparison have come away with the exact opposite feeling and prefer the rhodium dial/applied markers. Interesting, we many of us seem to have the same reason for preferring one dial over the other: We feel like whichever dial we like least looks washed out, or dull, etc. The difference between applied vs. printed markers is aesthetically significant, though, nd it is truly impossible to make this decision based upon side-by-side/comparison photos alone, because both dials behave differently in various indoor + outdoor lighting conditions. So the bottom line is that you should really, really make this comparison in person, for yourself (and in several indoor + outdoor lighting conditions), if you have the good fortune to be faced with this win-win decision! This message has been edited by CR on 2016-08-08 14:09:49

...and I confirm that you are right that this is a very subjective issue as I much prefer the stealth version to the silver dial/printed markers version. Reasons are as follows : I prefer applied markers to the printed ones as the result is a more classy elegant watch (vs a more simple daily wearer for the printed markers) ; I don't say it is better or nicer but it is my perception and for me a Lange 1 deserves to be classy ; of course it all depends what you are looking for... Secondly, platinum is for me the king metal and if I have the choice between Pt and WG I prefer to go for this metal. Thirdly I very recently tried a 101.025 and to my eyes the dial is simply beautiful and looks neither dull nor washed out... I am not saying it is or it is not but to my eyes it looks great and I am not disturbed at all by any problem with this dial. I am sure that Hari, KIH and many others will agree... Finally for the hands, I agree that blued hands are of course more legible, but wg ones give a more classy touch to the watch just like the applied markers do.
In other words as you perfectly said it is only a qestion of personal point of view and perception, and not an objective issue.
Which does not mean that I don't find 101.027X a very beautiful watch, they are 2 beauties, just not for the same people .
Best,
Mike

I found that a very apt description!

You're right - some people prefer the applied markers, some prefer printed markers - but I really agree with you that the 027x dial comes alive in natural light.

I read your post and decided to wear mine today, it's great in indirect sunlight!

 

 


This message has been edited by CR on 2016-08-09 05:58:52

If I were a betting man.. I would say that is not a .027x Lange 1 at all , seems to be missing something at 10 o'clock.
I will dig through my harddrive and see if I can find a proper cross section of dial shots between the 025 and 027x in different lighting. Love this discussion, it really draws out the fact that everyone sees things differently. I personally really like the matte look (almost pinkish hue) of the 025, but still care very much about the vibrance of the 027x.
My only foible with the 027x is the lightness in comparison to Pt, and the 'reflectiveness' of the dial