A. Lange & Söhne

Lange is currently showing the Homage to FA Lange set in the Asia Pacific, with Singapore being the most recent stop. The Homage set comprisese the Tourbograph, Lange 1 Tourbillon and 1815 Moon Phase cased in honey gold and is dedicated to Lange's founder, Ferdinand Adolph Lange, for whom 2010 is the 165th anniversary of his birth.

Together with leading SE Asian retailer Sincere Watch Ltd, Lange's long time partner and one of the major factors in establishing Lange in the region, Lange presented the Homage set to a select group of journalists earlier today. The press conference was held at the newly opened Fullerton Bay Hotel, a posh boutique hotel built on a disused pier with a stunning view of the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Yesterday Sincere and Lange co-hosted a thoroughly enjoyable dinner to showcase the range to a small group of collectors at the same venue; my report for that will come soon.

Patrick Tan, the eloquent head of the Sincere Watch Academy and a watch enthusiast himself, opened the session with some brief comments.

Arnd followed with a walk through Lange's history as well as significant products and developments, like the Tourbograph, Datograph and Lange 1 Time Zone for instance.

Even though the Homage set is formally dedicated to FA Lange, Arnd also mentioned Walter Lange and Gunter Blumlein, who were both responsible for the modern incarnation of Lange. 

The watches were then shown to the attendees....

More photos in follow-up posts.

- SJX

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-08-19 01:49:00

Most of the 2010 collection was on show, but the highlight was of course the Homage set. More photos of the watches in the reprint of my SIHH report below.

Clockwise from left: Zeitwerk Luminous, Saxonia Annual Calendar in rose and white gold, and Saxonia for ladies

My favourite iteration of the Zeitwerk

Saxonia Annual Calendar - not technically significant but an important product to broaden Lange's entry to mid range

From left: Datograph Perpetual in rose gold, Saxonia Annual Calendar in white gold, Richard Lange Referenzuhr in rose gold, Lange 1 Luminous, Lange 1 Daymatic in rose gold and 1815 Chronograph in white gold

And now for the highlight of the event, the Homage to FA Lange set. Starting with the incredible Tourbograph Pour le Merite.

Followed by the Lange 1 Tourbillon. This differs from the first generation in several respects, including the larger tourbillon aperture and stop seconds function. The movement decoration is also different and the case as well as balance cock are honey gold.

And finally the 1815 Moon Phase in honey gold.

 

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-08-19 01:48:42

I really don't like the guilloche on the dial and the decoration on the movement.
To me, these 3 watches.....hmmmm.....I really dunno what to say except 'are they necessary?'
The honey gold looks great though.
I must really see these watch in person , it may completely change my view on this.
Most likely
Lovesss*CL

I think it adds a lot to the dial, especially on the 1815 mondphase. The Tourbograph is nice but not for me.

Cheers,

--

Richard.

I just don't think the guilloche look "Lange" and it reminds me of the new Patek Perpetual.
It just look like an afterthought in design but then it is very subjective.
To me the old 1815 MP just hit the chord perfectly, so was the Tuetonic looking Turbograph.
A more romantic looking 'Turbograph' with the aid of pink gold metal and guilloche on the dial feels more like a 'cover up ' of its masculine quality.
Nothing more added to it but more being taken away from its original clear identity/direction.
Again, it's just the way I look at design and watches....it's very very subjective and I'm a big minority here
Lovesss*CL

but I love the look of the new 1815 mondphase. The Tourbograph isn't for me, I would be happy with a Richard Lange PLM PT instead.

Cheers,

--

Richard.

I will 100% get the Daymatic this year or the next...in RG or YG..it combines the deep engraving on the rotor which I adore on the Langematic with the clean cut indexes of the Lange 1. I always had a major problem with minute flaws on the Langematic's indexes which were designed with sharp apexs to the metal.

And I conclude with proper photos of the 2010 collection. This is my SIHH 2010 report on Lange.

Many thanks to the team at Lange as well as Sincere for the excellent press conference.

- SJX

 

 

Lange had a superb range of products this year. In contrast to previous years where the collection was led by a highly complicated watch that was complicated for the sake of being so, the range this year is a gifted balance. Both commercial products with wider appeal and cerebral complications are well represented.

 

Small complications like the Referenzuhr and annual calendar launched this year are necessary to make Lange more accessible, both financially and intellectually, because they are fairly affordable (by the lofty standards of Lange) and easy to understand. Lange needs that broader appeal to develop over the long term.

 

Interestingly Lange did not present any new ultra-complicated movement, instead the primary new calibre for 2010 is the L021.1 of the new Lange 1 Daymatic. The movement is new and not based on the Langematik. It has a 50 hour power reserve and Lange’s in-house balance wheel and hairspring.

 

Below: Lange 1 Daymatic in rose gold, yellow gold and platinum  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available in yellow or rose gold, or platinum, this watch is a visual mirror image of the original Lange 1. Though it is marginally larger than the original at 39.5 mm in diameter, that increase is almost imperceptible without a side by side comparison. It displays day and date, probably making it the most practical watch in the whole Lange line-up.

 

Below: L021.1 of Lange 1 Daymatic  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main theme of the 2010 collection is the brand’s 165^th anniversary. To mark this date, a three piece collection titled “F. A. Lange Homage” was unveiled, comprising the Tourbograph, Lange 1 Tourbillon and 1815 Moon Phase. These are remakes of past Lange limited editions with tweaks, major and minor; admittedly this is not particularly creative but the watches are beautiful and incredibly well made, so it is difficult to criticise them.

 

All three watches are cased in a unique honey coloured gold alloy that is twice as hard as regular 18 ct gold and exclusive to Lange. Each of the watches in the anniversary collection also features a solid honey gold balance cock that is hand engraved in Lange tradition. Another feature of the collection is the distinctive guilloche motif on the dial. All of that reminds me of the Lange 1A.

 

The movement also features a unique finish, a sunburst and chased decoration reminiscent of vintage pocket watches. This is the only the second instance of a Lange without the conventional movement decoration, the other being the Wempe 1815 “Side-step”.

 

The first of the three watches is the Tourbograph Pour le Mérite, a rattrapante chronograph with tourbillon and chain-and-fusee mechanism. 50 of these will be made, completing the original 101 piece edition promised when the first Tourbograph in platinum was launched.

 

Below: Tourbograph F. A. Lange Homage

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a lordly watch; remarkably expensive but also utterly impressive. This gold Tourbograph has a richness of colour that is amazing and I prefer it to the platinum Tourbograph which was too monochrome.

 

Below: Tourbograph L903.0

 

 

 

 

 

Second is the new Lange 1 tourbillon. Unlike the original this has the added feature of a hack seconds first seen the Cabaret tourbillon. Another improvement over the first Lange 1 tourbillon is the enlarged aperture for the tourbillon on the dial; on the first model the cut-out was too small, leaving the tourbillon looking constricted.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: 1 Tourbillon F. A. Lange Homage

 

As a result of the larger cut-out on the dial, one of the discs for the big date is sapphire so as not to obstruct the tourbillon cage. The exposed sapphire disc gives the watch a mildly informal look which is atypical for Lange. 150 of these will be made.

 

The last of the three pieces is the new 1815 Moonphase. Though this is mechanically identical to the original 1815 Moonphase, with the same one-day-deviation-in-1000-years accuracy of the moon phase, it looks completely different and is no less attractive. Especially fetching is the blue and gold moon phase display. 265 will be made.

 

Below: 1815 Moon Phase F. A. Lange Homage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lange’s previous attempt at a luminous watch, the Lange 1 Luminous, did not really go anywhere. This year the brand remade the Grand Lange 1 Luminous and the new version is still uninteresting. However, Lange unveiled another luminous watch during the fair and this one is astonishing.

 

 

 

 

The Zeitwek Luminous watch is absolutely unconventional for the brand, it might even be considered avant-garde. This platinum Zeitwerk feature discs with luminous numbers and a translucent, grey-tinted sapphire dial. The dial allows the luminova numerals on the discs, not just in the window, to be charged during the day and reveals them at night. To complete the look, the German silver bridge on the dial is black PVD coated. During the day this has a dark, almost brooding look, but at night it glows tenaciously.

 

 

 

 

This avant-garde PVD Lange is utterly cool (yes, Lange und cool in the same sentence). It is a tad gimmicky, but the lesson is this: gimmicks are forgiven if a watch is truly high quality and innovative. Only 100 cool people will get to wear the Zeitwerk Luminous.

 

Though the Lange 1 Daymatic was the primary new movement, another new calibre was launched in the Richard Lange Referenzuhr. It features a seconds hand that can be reset with the button at 2 o’clock, meaning it can record periods of up to a minute and almost mostly not useful. But it is a novel small complication that is likeable and well finished.

 

Referenzuhr in platinum and rose gold  

 

 

 

 

 

Referenzuhr L033.1 

 

 

 

   

 

The other small complication presented was the Saxonia Annual Calendar. Available in white or rose gold, this watch uses the Langematik movement with a newly developed annual calendar mechanism. I’m lukewarm towards the design, which I find uninspired. But I like the idea of a Lange annual calendar tremendously. This is part of the Saxonia range, which is entry level, so this annual calendar is priced as such.

 

Saxonia Annual Calendar in white and rose gold  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally come three chronographs. The first is the revival of the 1815 chronograph, in white or rose gold. It features a much cleaner dial than the original which makes the lack of a big date less obvious. One reason why I did not like the first 1815 chronograph was the lopsided dial with the two sub-dials below. That is not so apparent here for some reason.

 

1815 Chronograph in rose and white gold  

 

 

 

 

Notably the movement is not identical to that of the original 1815 chronograph, instead this calibre has been improved with a 60 hour power reserve (compared to 36 for the original) that was achieved by using a new mainspring. The calibre also boasts Lange’s in-house hairspring and adjustable mass balance. Perhaps these upgrades may come to the Datograph when it returns from its hiatus.

 

New L951.5 of 1815 Chronograph, note in-house balance

 

 

 

Also, the Datograph Perpetual and Double Split are now available in rose gold with silver dials. Note that both watches have different dials from the platinum versions of the same watch. The new dials feature baton markers all round, instead of the alternating baton-Roman indices on the platinum watches. The change is subtle but gives the watch a very different look, cleaner and sleeker. Somehow I find the new dial works better with the Datograph Perpetual, probably because of its blue steel elements, while on the Double Split the new dial looks basic.

 

Double Split followed by Datograph Perpetual  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-08-19 01:51:01

Thank you SJX for attending this event and taking these great photographs for me to drool at. It is certainly reminding me of my favorite A. Lange & Soehne timepieces.

This is certainly an important event, considering all the important watches are present, and the presence of noteworthy journalists.

I am certainly looking forward to seeing these in person and perhaps even acquiring a piece for my future collection.

..mouth watering report, thanks for the write up. Im afraid as much as I like all of those pieces  I have eyes for only one piece ...Tourbograph Pour le Mérite.....

It is simple stunning.. I am in love, alas very limited numbers & not enough pennies=no chance, but love looking at the pictures, just my perfect watch, the blue of the hands, the tourbillon, the style...just perfect!

 

 

Thanks SJX,

Superb coverage and wonderful watches. So many of those images, particularly the movements, are now saved as wallpaper. I love the 1815 moonphase and the honey gold.

Lange are really pushing through the touch of Teutonic coldness I felt in some of their designs.

Andrew

cheers

PAt

Love the 1815 mondphase.

Best,

--

Richard.

Impressive, thanks for sharing SJX.
and the Zeitwerk again get my vote

thanks
Eddy

1815 moonphase ?

The guilloche dial goes well with the blue of the moon phase.

- SJX

the box housing the Homage set looks mighty nice. Wonder if that will be the presentation case for actual Homage set owners if there are any out there?

I recall when the TimeZone was released before, they seem to have had a similar box to house all three different metals. Thanks again for sharing...

I believe he will get separate boxes for each watch.

- SJX

which I must rememebr to tell a certain gentlement friend who's interested in this...

wonder hoiw many of the 50 seta sre already accounted for.

thks for sharing SJX.

sitting beside JX that may have placed an order for a set...

I'm in love with the 1815 moonphase and the Zeitwerk Luminous...

Fr.Xavier

No message body

We can see that you put a lot of work into this to our benifit.  What can we say but ....hats off...and thank you.

I must say the event is more like a get together than a formal dinner. Old friends chit chatting, great food (Lafite@Shangri-La).

I manage to snap a few photo, mostly casual shot of the wrist. Here goes:

and thanks for your photos.

- SJX

on te net and best of all the Zeitwerks I think... but whether its worth the premium....

No message body

No message body