A. Lange & Söhne

I much prefer this one: 

...even though I have a hard time reading all regulator-style watches...

I'm not THAT impressed with the Terra Luna. Sure, it's nice, it's complex, and it's double sided. But the back astronomical indications are just set discs that rotate at a specific speed. It's not THAT complex. Plus the Terra Luna is a little thick. I prefer a Lange with a manageable thickness and German reliability. And one that winds nicely (I'm looking at you Zeitwerk, you're the most painful watch to wind in existence)! Amanico's choice here with the dead beat seconds is lovely. My overall favorite is the 1815 models with time only. The one with the power reserve is lovely too. The Lange 1 is nice, but why make the active time telling dial smaller? Oh, and if you want some heavy hitting piece to impress other watch collectors, nobody can say the 1815 Chronograph is not UBER impressive.

I know you've heard me say this before. I LOVE winding the ZW! Crisp, stiff, precise. It speaks to me: "Yes, I'll allow you to wind me, but you'll have to work for it."

For a moment there, it read like this watch was evil!  I pictured a watch with a little devil outfit, horns, and a whip!  

The back is nothing but spinning discs. It's cool the way they focus on the balance wheel as a stand-in for the sun, although as a metaphor it makes very little sense. Ultimately There's a lot of fuss over very little visible excellence.

So maybe consider a simpler Richard Lange or an 1815. The one thing that irks me about the Richard Lange is the added thickness for only that tiny one mechanism that sticks out on the back of the movement. The story goes like this. Lange made the time-only Richard Lange movement and it worked well. But with the large central second hand at 21,600 vph vibrated noticeably in some people's eyes, some people complained that they could see the second hand vibrations at the outer radius. Thus, to smooth out those vibrations, Lange added gears on a small tower that stuck out and these gears acted like a "damper" to soften out those vibrations - basically using two "idler gears" that act as shock absorbers (I'm oversimplifying it, but that's the basic quick explanation). Unfortunately, this small module stuck out and looked like an afterthought - it probably was an afterthought judging by the story it was a last minute addition.

Not exactly the horological excellence we want to be celebrating… anyway, I am coming off the Richards. The high-end ones are extremely expensive, don’t hold value, and aren’t as clearly visible in terms of the supposed excellence actually being invested in. Bit of a let down, to be honest.

Lange has high standards overall. But even they can irk me sometimes. Lufthansa used to have one of the best First Class airline experiences and now I would say it's very mediocre. Frankfurt's First Class terminal sometimes has furniture that really needs reupholstering sometimes. They didn't load half the wines on the list nor the soup on a flight out of Munich. They gave me an Extra-Large pajama (I'm a Small) out of Munich - for a big hub, they should have more sizes. Things change. Time change. Expectations change. At least the private customs, private security, and time saving measures still mostly work.

It allows the very long second hand to run smoothly over the dial, as without it, due to the low beat ratio and the sheer length of the second hand, it would look pretty un-smooth, very jerky.
This extra plate is pure Lange problem fixing!

Most langes are just too thick for me.. even the datograph I find too top heavy
As for the Lange 1, so that the time dial doesn’t overlap the other indications

German and Swiss-German watches are always going to be a little thicker than the delicate Swiss-French watches. So I get that. Especially a 3/4 plate will add another mm of thickness to the movement. So I try to go for thinner German watches.

I was going to say that the Terraluna is awfully large, but then I saw that you own a Lange 31!

…but now you just opened up a new line of inquiry! What do I need to know? Are they different?

I thought you meant just the Tourbillon PLM:

Yeah, I mean the Richard Lange line.

I didn't know if I've seen pictures of this beast. How lovely

Truly exceptional watches.

It is unwearable on most wrists. But if you can pull off the 31 - maybe it works for you?

The Richard Lange tourbillion regulator is a great technical achievement. Spectacular on the movement side. But to me the dial feels too flat and simple for such a watch.

Despite those reservations both are masterpieces, it is a question of which one you enjoy having on your wrist more.