A Lange & Söhne Debuts Blue Dials and a Seriously Cool Handwerkskunst Watch

In the world of horology, no other colour generates the same level of enthusiasm like blue when it comes to dials. It’s been touted as a major trend year after year, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. A Lange & Söhne is the latest watchmaker to jump onto the bandwagon, releasing new interpretations on four of their best known classics: the Lange 1, Lange 1 Daymatic, Saxonia and Saxonia Automatic.

What makes this launch particularly exciting is blue dials are rare at Lange, whose current collection spans silvery-white dials, slate-grey dials and glossy black ones. Before this latest release, the last time blue dials were produced was the 1990s and 2000s.

The four Blue Series have the same proprietary manufacture calibre as the existing models, so the updates to the collection are purely aesthetic. Along with deep-blue galvanised dials in solid silver, the timepieces come with polished hands and rhodiumed gold appliqués, hand-stitched dark-blue alligator leather straps and solid white gold prong buckles.

The watches, while not limited edition, are only being produced for one year only.

And while we mere mortals dream about the Four Series, the more serious collectors can reach for celestial heights. The new A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar Handwerkskunst watch also debuted at the same time.

A Lange & Söhne gives the Handwerkskunst treatment just once a year, presenting an exceptional watch that shows off the German manufacture’s craftsmanship and ability to manufacture watches with rare, even revived techniques, as well as some truly innovative ideas.

The 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar Handwerkskunst is the sixth model with the Handwerkskunst attribute, following previous stellar models including the Zeitwerk, the 1815 Tourbillon and the Lange 1 Tourbillon. In terms of functionality, the watch packs a punch. There’s the hours, the minutes, a sub-dial at six o’clock to show the running seconds, a moon phase, a split-seconds chronograph with a rattrapante mechanism activated by a pusher at 10 o’clock, central second hands, a power reserve indicator and a full perpetual calendar, with the day of the week and date at nine o’clock, and the month and leap year cycle at three.

Leaving aside its mechanical achievements, the watch is also stunning aesthetically. For the first time, enamel art and engraving is combined on the dial. Like an extension of the moon-phase display, iridescent blue enamel is layered over relief-engraved stars on the white gold plate, so it appears as though the stars are floating in 3-D against the dark blue background.

The timepiece is only limited to 20, so move fast, if you’re as enchanted by the watch as we are. Stay tuned for our November issue to read more about these exceptional watches.