A. Lange & Söhne

This morning, at 8:25, getting ready to go to church, I wanted to adjust the
time on my Stealth as it was a few seconds fast. Well, I pulled the crown
when the seconds hands was pointing at approx 60, set the hands to 8:25 and
waited for my radio controlled kitchen clock to reach the 8:25 mark...

I pushed back in the crown and wanted to experience the smooth winding
feeling again, so I gave the crown a turn or two ... but instead of the
winding feeling I noticed the hands revolving over the dial.

OH NO !!!!!!!!!

The first thing that went through my head was: "great, just as the August
holiday season is approaching, my watch decides to stop working", soon
followed by the (more or less comforting) thought that I was planning on
having my Stealth serviced this year anyway and the question I am battling
with "to polish or not to polish".

Then, after pulling the crown a few times to see if I could solve the
problem myself to no avail, I thought about what could be causing the
problems. If you pull the crown a balance stop lever stops the swing of the
balance, perhaps that got stuck?

I grabbed my 10x loupe and my other Lange-1 and noticed that my analysis of
the problem was (partly) correct.



The arrow points to the lever that is blocking the balance.

There is more wrong that just that, since turning the crown makes the hands
revolve, even if the crown is in the winding or neutral position.

In the next picture you can see my faulty PT Lange-1 on top and my RG
Lange-1 beneath it. Notice the difference in the position of the balance
stop lever?



Another picture of the watch: the dial: stuck at 8:25 hours:



Question remains: If you have to send a watch to Glashütte (or a Lange
Service Centre) would you have it polished or not?

I love the look of a new watch, so I am tempted to have Lange polish my
Stealth. OTOH, a new watch IS a new watch and the marks on the Stealth make
it mine and not just a new watch, so I am (heavily) thinking about having
Lange NOT polishing my Stealth.

Curious about what you would do!

Edwin

btw in the before-last picture with the movement details of the two
Lange-1´s; apart from the defective balance-stop-lever, do you notice an
additional difference????

Edwin, give it a brand new life.....start again, there will be new marks to make it yours...I truly believe you will experience the excitement of getting a new Lange all over again, with no negative  repercussions. What is now old will be new again.

PS let me know if you experience the same thrill.

I would have the watch polished and looking new

would have it polished; you'll make it "yours" again in short order once it returns.

Hope you made it to church on time and that it helped put life's little mishaps in perspective!

- Jon

I will polish it to give it a fresh start. This is not a vintage piece so I personally think a light polish is perfectly fine.
And it will give the watch a new spark
I think you will enjoy it even more when it returns.
lovesss*CL

Hi Edwin,

i can´t claim to be familiar with the inner workings, but the symptoms described may be caused by a relatively small problem. In the "keyless works" of a movement, there´s a lever accounting for "switching" between winding and timesetting functionality.
Here´s a picture of the keyless works found in a AP 3090 caliber:


As one may see, the stem drives a small wheel with a recess; the lever touching this will "recognize" the crown/stem position (winding/setting) and in years of use, sometimes it can "slip" out of the recess.
Such will keep the keyless works in the last position, which means it is "blocked" and thus only setting or winding can be done.

It´s probably recommendable to ensure a fine watch as a Lange timepiece only those sufficiently trained and experienced on these; inappropiate service can cause more problems than cure and it really deserves the attention it got during initial production.
Assuming it is out of warranty, there may be a choice of sending it in to Lange or to have it repaired locally.
Adjusting the keyless works (if such caused the phenomenon) is something many watchmakers are familiar with. So if there´s not more, turnaround time from your local Lange AD will be much faster.

On case refinish, the outcome often is a visually new watch afterwards.
If you don´t mind those signs of wear to vanish, then why not!
Just that it needs to be send in and probably will taker longer to get it back.

On the differences, the decoration seems to be different?
The circular graining ("perlage") on the base plate, but the engravings on the balance cock as well?

Cheers,

Peter

Hi Edwin,

Regarding the difference; the shock absorbing mechanisms seem to be different.

Regards,
Joram

It did surprise me to see different systems in both Lange-1´s

Edwin

Edwin

although I am certainly confident Lange will put it right.

And your pictures are fabulous!