SIHH 2019: A.Lange & Söhne
May 23, 2019
It’s all about celebration at the A. Lange & Söhne booth at this year’s SIHH for one of the most renowned German watchmakers in the world.
It has been 25 years since A. Lange & Söhne first launched their iconic Lange 1 in 1994. This year, the German watchmaker is celebrating the jubilee of this award-winning watch with a “25th Anniversary” Edition in white gold and limited to 250-pieces.
Back in 1994, Lange 1 had an outsize date and an asymmetric dial layout paired with a lavishly finished mechanical calibre – in the mid 1990s, this was deemed a provocation by many people. But the unusual design attracted considerable attention and made A. Lange & Söhne famous again overnight.
The Lange 1 “25th Anniversary” series has been virtually unchanged since 1994. Its movement was what reflects its technical evolution. This watch uses a manually wound calibre L121.1, introduced back in 2015, which includes a precisely jumping outsize date display and a freely oscillating Lange balance spring. This is paired with a large cam-poised balance to ensure superb rate accuracy.
The Anniversary Edition also came with an additional engraving feature at the caseback that depicts the Lange headquarters date back to 1873, the name of Walter Lange and Günter Blümlein marked with “25 YEARS LANGE 1”.
Apart from the 25th Anniversary, A. Lange & Söhne also celebrated the 10th Anniversary of their Zeitwerk model with their latest anniversary edition called Zeitwerk Date.
Ten years later, Lange’s mechanical digital watch welcomes a newly designed movement that incorporates an additional function: The ring-shaped date display, perfectly harmonised with the ZEITWERK design, circles the dial. The ZEITWERK DATE comes in a 44.2-millimetre white gold case with a grey dial and a red date. To achieve this red date effect, a small colour segment beneath the date ring performs one step exactly at midnight. With this arrangement, the date is always clearly legible at all times and also recognisable intuitively. The date display can be adjusted with the corrector at 8 o’clock; the switching impulse is generated when it is released. Given the controlled release of the forces involved, the Zeitwerk is a genuine “time machine”.
When the Langematik Perpetual was introduced in 2001, it was the world’s first self-winding wristwatch that combined an outsize-date display and a perpetual calendar. This year A. Lange & Söhne is proud to present you the Langematic Perpetual Honeygold.
Proprietary to Lange, honey gold is more resistant than other gold alloys. Despite its complexity, the 38.5-millimetre-wide watch is merely 10.2 millimetres high, assuring a comfortable fit on the wrist. The bezel and the prominent strap lugs are polished to create a mirror effect while the middle segment of the contoured case is finished with straight graining. The face of the solid-silver argenté dial contrasts highly with the luminous hands as well as the applied Roman numerals in honey gold. The embossed circle with the applied numerals enhances the three-dimensional effect of the dial. A dark brown alligator leather strap with a honey-gold buckle rounds out the balanced overall design. The Langematik Perpetual displays the correct date every day until the year 2100. The lasting validity of the perpetual calendar and the robustness of honey gold perfectly complement each other.
The new Datograph Perpectual Tourbillon 2109. The unique combination of a flyback chronograph, a perpetual calendar with moonphases, a tourbillon with stop seconds, and a power-reserve indicator is now complemented with a pink gold dial. The first 100-watch edition in platinum with a black dial is now followed by a second edition of 100 watches in white gold with a pink-gold dial.
Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, a brand-new version in black dial in white gold, reminiscing of the subtlety in colour and the symmetry of the circles in Bauhaus design concepts. The clear contrast of white markings on a black background adds a new aesthetic dimension to the regulator architecture emphasized by its red accents in a 39.9mm case. The display in the lower zone where the hour and minute indications intersect is a special eye-catcher: Ten hours before the unwound state is reached, it switches from white to red, reminding the wearer that the watch needs to be rewound soon.
