Comments:
Deployment Clasp for A. Lange & Söhne?
Curious if anyone has any experience adding a deployment buckle to any Lange that came stock with a pin buckle.
My watches with a deployment buckle feel far more secure on the wrist than any with the pin. It's easier on and off, and less of a stress on the leather band.
A. Lange & Söhne will sell you a band in precious metals and leather colors that matches your watch -- e.g., Pink Gold and Black or Platinum and Blue, etc.
A. Lange & Söhne will sell you a band in precious metals and leather colors that matches your watch -- e.g., Pink Gold and Black or Platinum and Blue, etc.
COST: about 10% of the retail price of the watch.
Has anyone done this? What have your experiences been?
I very much want this as an upgrade (unless someone talks me out of it).
Thanks in advance
A couple folks have some real mileage with
Lange deployant buckles; there is a single fold and a butterfly double fold.
I believe there are 16&18 mm sizes.
I was fortunate to buy a.watch that came with one; otherwise like you said it is between 3-7k usd? Between gold and Pt? I also have a watch that others notorious claim is uncomfortable to wear due to its weight and I use a pin buckle. Maybe I don’t mind as I take the watch often to stare at the back?? 😀
Anyways, I enjoy both methods in wearing. Some say they like the extra weight to balance the heavy case, but perhaps I tend to wear my watch tight “enough” no slack and movement on the wrist that a pin buckle works well (again as long as the hole on the strap is in the right place).
One inconvenience for me when utilizing a deployant is storage and travel; watches with bracelets and deployant use cases that are much bulkier when traveling or storing; and if you like to travel with a couple of watches than it takes more space.
It does seem to be better for the strap so that’s a nice plus.
I believe there are 16&18 mm sizes.
I was fortunate to buy a.watch that came with one; otherwise like you said it is between 3-7k usd? Between gold and Pt? I also have a watch that others notorious claim is uncomfortable to wear due to its weight and I use a pin buckle. Maybe I don’t mind as I take the watch often to stare at the back?? 😀
Anyways, I enjoy both methods in wearing. Some say they like the extra weight to balance the heavy case, but perhaps I tend to wear my watch tight “enough” no slack and movement on the wrist that a pin buckle works well (again as long as the hole on the strap is in the right place).
One inconvenience for me when utilizing a deployant is storage and travel; watches with bracelets and deployant use cases that are much bulkier when traveling or storing; and if you like to travel with a couple of watches than it takes more space.
It does seem to be better for the strap so that’s a nice plus.
I added a deployant to my Zeitwerk
I like having it on there. It does help balance the watch as it is quite heavy. The craftsmanship is commensurate with Lange. Hope that helps.
My AD in Europe...
has deployment clasps on stock and change it, if desired. He also send the unused pin buckles back to Lange and so you only have to pay the price difference.
The only is that Lange does not have modified leather straps for deployment clasps (shorter length of the strap part where the buckle in fixed and a longer one with the holes for the buckle pin) like e.g IWC or Patek does. But anyway, I fully agree with your argument (safer and easier wearing, better for the leather strap). If a deployment buckle is mounted, it is advisable to swap the two parts of the strap, i.e. to mount the short part at 6 o'clock and the long part at 12 o'clock.
Cheers, Mike
I would get it.
They are certainly steep in price and unlike other brands like VC where you can just go for a steel version instead of precious metal (at a 1/5 of the price), Lange does not have that option.
I agree with your point re it being safer, especially since the watches are on the heavier side. For me, it also balances out the heft on the top of the wrist and increases the life of the strap (significantly in my case in view of very frequent wear).
I personally prefer deployants on all my watches. My Langes are all on a single fold. But others strongly favor the butterfly version. It really has to do with your wrist comfort as price wise they are the same. The challenge is finding both options in the same place to figure out what works best for your wrist as they are hard to source through ADs and on back order at Boutiques as recently as a few months ago (was helping a friend source one).
One thing I will say, I recently broke my platinum deployant (let’s call it due to excessive wear over 10 or so years) and the Boutique took care of it at no charge and even shipped it to me overnight once fixed as I was out of town so that I get it sooner. So they stand behind their product and you are getting something for life.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Walid
I’m going the other way on this
Tang buckles have always been more comfortable than deployants for me
A deployment of deployants
I think you should get it. I do not like tang (pin) buckles at all. I always prefer deployant buckles. But deployants (including Lange's single-fold deployant, above) are uncomfortable if the curve of the buckle is not centered on the underside of your wrist. If the buckle goes up the side of your wrist, it can be uncomfortable. That may mean you need a custom-made strap.
Lange also makes a butterfly deployant (double-fold) that is much thinner and lighter than the single-fold. It is more comfortable, but I don't like it except on smaller Langes (like a 36mm 1815). Here is that one:
Single clasp?
Thanks for all the pix, super helpful!
I like the idea of the single clasp with a leather strap (Like a Tag Monaco) i find it quite comfortable.
On a mesh bracelet (like a Certina diver) the double works great
I appreciate your insights
I like the idea of the single clasp with a leather strap (Like a Tag Monaco) i find it quite comfortable.
On a mesh bracelet (like a Certina diver) the double works great
I appreciate your insights
I would get the deployant clasp. They preserve the band and in my opinion at a touch of class. I especially like it for my Zeitwerk as it helps to distribute the weight.
I added a new Lange single fold deployant to my Lange 1 in WG.
The weight adds some balance, and it seems more secure when putting on / taking off, and certainly it's less common to see the deployant.
One day, getting out of the car, I felt the watch loose on my wrist under my jacket. Lucky it did not fall off and hit pavement. I found this alarming and switched back to the pin buckle that night. I 've got a couple watches with snap closure deployants, and I'm somewhat mistrustful of them in general.
That's unsettling! Do you know if the 2 blades mate securely when closed?
Sometimes you need to bend 1 of the 2 flanges a bit, to ensure a good fit that's neither too hard or too easy to close. The deployants can be very hard to close (which means sometimes they don't close at all) or too easy to close (which means they can spontaneously open). I have never had one open up like that, spontaneously, when the blades were properly aligned -- when you feel and hear a distinctive "click" without needing to apply a ton of pressure.
The clasp came direct from Lange, and I used it for some time prior to the day it opened.
It probably snagged on something, so taking it off the watch may have been an overreaction. I'm now motivated to retrieve that clasp from the safe deposit box, where it has beeen sitting over 5 years, and give it another try. I'm accustomed to the aubible & tactile feedback you mentioned, but have no recollection of any concerns at the time. Time to revisit this.
That's a good plan! And I like the reassuring "click" that you get only with a deployant.
I am habituated to grabbing a watch off a table and often putting in on or taking it off while walking around. Having to stand still and think about holding a watch securely just to put it on or take it off, while fiddling with a tang buckle and sizing, is something I now do so rarely that I find it slightly annoying. I also never liked severely deforming a nice strap nearly 180 degrees at least twice each day to fit it into the keepers of a tang buckle while knowing that'd be totally unnecessary with a deployant, where you literally never bend a strap. That's the other advantage of deployants -- straps last longer for me and many other users.
Sometimes even new Lange deployants need a bit of adjustment, usually because they're too tight, though it sounds like yours was fine. To adjust them, I bend one of the blades a tiny bit using both hands. I can never feel the metal move while I'm exerting (considerable) pressure to bend it because the slight movement of the metal is imperceptible to me, but the results are immediately apparent when I test it by opening/closing the buckle: either the buckle has trouble closing, or it closes too easily, or it's perfect.
The other thing that comes to mind is that many people do not know how to properly and securely close a single-fold deployant like Lange uses. Many people (like me, initially) incorrectly push straight down, and too hard, on the visible ("LANGE") part of the buckle. That yields inconsistent, suboptimal results. It requires excessive pressure because the angle is off. They don't realize (until someone explains) that you should put your thumb on "LANGE" and push at an angle (from the top of the word LANGE towards the bottom of that word), not straight down, because the male and female portions of the deployant mate at an angle: One of the 4 sides of the rectangular male portion slides over one edge of the female portion. That's how the buckle closes, and that's what causes the click. It's an angled fit, not a straight fit, so pressure needs to be applied at that angle (and same in reverse to open it at an angle rather than pulling straight up).
