A Lange Sohne

A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk Luminous Watch

Last year's awesome watch from German A. Lange & Sohne was the Lange Zeitwerk. A mechanical digital watch with jumping indicators for the minutes and hours. Style was totally retro cool, and the mechanics needed to make it work are much more difficult than you can fathom. One thing many people wanted the watch to have was luminous markers. But this was thought impossible given that they could not be charged by the light being hidden under the dial. Well the creative thinkers at Lange found a solution, and they have implemented it here in the new Lange Zeitwerk Luminous watch.

Basically they made the dial out of a tinted (smoked) sapphire crystal. The numerals all have luminant applied to them. The sapphire part of the dial is made so that it is not totally transparent, but light can enter easily to charge the luminant. When the indicators are displayed in the digital windows, they should be able to charge enough, provided that the watch has been exposed to enough light. Thus you have a lume version of the Lange Zeitwerk - clever.

Aside from that the watch retains the features that we love about standard Zeitwerk. It comes in a 42mm wide case in platinum and is part of a limited edition of just 100 pieces. Movement is the highly complex manually wound in-house made A. Lange & Sohne Caliber L043.1, with its double constant force escapements. Functions include the hours and minutes digitally, with a subsidiary seconds dial and a power reserve indicator. A beautiful watch with a great appeal somewhere between luxury gadget and traditional fine timepiece. Price is $91,200, and the watch is in platinum as mentioned.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Lange Zeitwerk Luminous

Tags: 2010, A Lange Sohne, ALangeSohne, Luminous, SIHH, watch, Zeitwerk

A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia Annual Calendar Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

A new classic from German A. Lange & Sohne this year is the easy-to-love Saxonia Annual Calendar watch. In the tradition of many successful "triple calendar" watches (named as such for displaying the day, date, and month), the Saxonia Annual Calendar also adds the requisite moon phase indicator to complete the look. The watch isn't just about the information it displays, but the delivery of the details as well as the dial layout which is important to its adherence to the classic look. This piece is sure to be a winner for A. Lange & Shone.

Unlike most A. Lange & Sohne watches the Saxonia Annual Date comes with an automatic movement. The Caiber L0851. Sax-O-Mat has what Lange calls a 3/4 automatic rotor, which is in 21k gold and engraved. This is smaller than a full rotor, but larger than a micro-rotor. The movement has a power reserve of 46 hours and a zero-reset function when the crown is pulled out for easy precise setting of the time. The moon phase is accurate to about one day each 122 years.

Pushers on the side of the case are used to adjust the calendar functions if necessary - which itself needs to be adjusted maximum of once per a year (assuming you keep the watch wound). The operation of the movement is flawless. This is of course due to the fact that it is totally in-house made and designed by Lange. The case size is medium at best being 38.5mm in size. Lange watches sometimes feel small in your hand until you place them on your wrist and they feel just right. Their purpose is to make comfortable luxury watches that excel at their prime purpose of looking good and telling the time (and other related data). You can tell that the dial layout is comfortable in poise and purpose. It follows the basic look of other Saxonia watches, with the additional information. Hands are the right length (as always for the brand), and in gold matched to the other gold pieces on the dial. The white gold version has blued steel hands though.

The case is immaculately finished. In fact, I've never handled any watch that is as well finished as one from A. Lange & Sonhe - even at much higher prices. The Saxonia Annual Calendar watch is available in 18k white gold or pink gold. Price is the same for each at 27,500 euros. All things equal, the price is pretty good given the movement and quality of the watch in comparison to what else is out there.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: A. Lange Sohne Saxonia Annual Calendar Watch

Tags: 2010, A Lange Sohne, ALangeSohne, annual calendar, AnnualCalendar, sihh, soxonia, watch

A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 Daymatic Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

For 2010 comes this Lange 1 Daymatic watch from everyone's favorite German luxury watch brand A. Lange & Sohne. The Lange 1 Daymatic is the first ever automatic watch in the Lange 1 line - a collection of watches that is much responsible or Lange's current market position as it allowed the revitalized brand to be noticed back in the 1990s. A. Lange & Sohne very rarely makes automatic movements. Instead preferring to produce beautifully decorated in-house movement that are traditional in style, and don't have views of the movement blocked by an automatic rotor (and the caseback is sapphire for a view).

You can't deny that automatic movements are more popular and more convenient. So it is high time that A. Lange & Sohne decided to make one for the Lange 1 line. Adding an automatic winding movement helps alleviate the need or usefulness of a power reserve indicator. As such, Lange decided to replace the power reserve indicator found on all manually wound Lange 1 dials with a retrograde day of the week indicator. At the same time Lange designers inverted the display of the dials on the Lange 1's face, further freshening things up a bit. This means that the Daymatic has the watch face on the right of the dial, while the original Lange 1 has the dial on the left side of the face. Aside from the time and day of the week, the dial has a patented outsize date indicator and a subsidiary seconds dial.

Movement is the in-house made A. Lange & Sohne L021.1 automatic made up of 426 parts with a 50 hour power reserve. Decoration is on par with brand expectation. I haven't seen the automatic rotor decoration, but I will next month when the watch is officially unveiled at SIHH 2010 in Geneva. The Lange 1 Daymatic will arrive in a 39.5mm wide case, made out of either 18k yellow gold, pink gold, or platinum - with a matching alligator strap of course. dial is specially toned silver and beautifully finished. Expect price to be in the $50,000 and up range.

Ariel Adans publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, A Lange Sohne, ALangeSohne, automatic, Daymatic, Lange 1, Lange1, SIHH, watch

A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk Watch Wins Top Prize At The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève 2009

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

I knew that the A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk watch had a lot going for it. When it was announced several months ago in May, I was sure that Lange was doing things right. Oddly enough, its parent company Richemont Group did not. Even though the brand has an almost fanatical following and continues to win award after award (for both the company and their products), there was enough tension over profits between former CEO Fabian Krone and Richemont Group corporate to lead to the former CEO's resignation. Shame that Richemont didn't value the skill and determination of the brand.

Like Zeitwerk... I mean clockwork, A. Lange & Sohne has won yet another award for their watches. The result of this year's Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève has the Lange Zeitwerk watch winning the "Golden Hand" award. Roughly making it the top watch of the year. Through the various categories, this is the ideal award that any watch maker can strive to achieve for this highly watched annual horological recognition event.

The Lange Zeitwerk watch is a mechanical masterpiece that combines modern and traditional watch making. The dial shows the time digitally via two windows and has a analog subsidiary seconds dial and power reserve indicator. Prices for the watches average about $55,000 - $76,000 (gold and then platinum).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2009, a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, award, geneva, geneve, grand prix dhorlogerie, GrandPrixDhorlogerie, watch, zeitwerk

A. Lange & Sohne Cabaret Soirée Lady's Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

The graciously flattering presence of a timepiece such as this needs to be seen on a woman's wrist to be appreciated. The mixture of perfect functionality with luxury appointments makes A. Lange & Sohne of the best high-end watch makers in the world, especially for women. This is the newest model in their lady's jewelry watch line, and they are highly limited in production.

These are the new Cabaret Soirée timepieces and they come in 26.5mm wide by 36.3mm tall 18k white gold cases with 70 Wesselton diamonds lining the bezel (0.9 carats). Sapphire crystal and caseback for appreciating the hand decorated movement. There are two versions of the watch, both limited to only 10 pieces. The dials of each are lined with solid silver and have rhodium coated gold hands. First is the Ref. 827.029 in baby blue, with a mother-of-pearl dial, matched with the light blue crocodile strap. Then there is the Ref. 827.035 Cabaret Soirée in pink with a rose colored mother-of-pearl dial, matched with a "mother-of-pearl rose" colored pink crocodile strap.

Like all A. Lange & Sohne watches, the Cabaret Soirée watches will have all in-house made movements. These watches have the Calibre L931.4 manually wound mechanical movements with a subsidiary seconds hand and "out-size" date. The movement has 237 parts and a power reserve of 42 hours. Everything on the case and watch is top quality, and you'll be lucky to get one of the only twenty pieces available worldwide.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2009, a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, blue, cabaret, ladys, pink, soiree, watch, womens

A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph Pour le Merite Diamond Watch - $1.75 Million

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

What happens when you drop an exclusive and highly limited edition A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph Pour le Merite into a vat of molten hot baguette cut diamonds? Well this special edition version of the watch for Dubail of course! Dubail is a luxury watch and jewelery store is Paris, and is blessed enough to have what just might be the world's most expensive new A. Lange & Sohne watch - limited edition of just one piece.

The Tourbograph Pour le Merite was outstanding enough, but this 'piece unique' takes the luxury to a different level by adding 201 diamonds on the case, and another 175 on the bracelet. There are over 40 carats of diamonds on this 41.2mm wide watch done in white gold.

Looking closely you can see that so many parts of the watch have diamonds in them. Even the crown and chronograph pushers. What is interesting about the watch, is that the inside of the watch is just as stunning as the outside. You can see it through the sapphire exhibition caseback. Although a diamond covered watch like this is of course gaudy, I think that it is as tastefully done as could have been. The watch itself has a manufacture made caliber L903.0 tourbillon movement, with a 30 minute chronograph and power reserve indicator. My recollection is that the movement alone takes about a year to make. The watch will be available at the Dubai store with a retail price of 1.2 million euros (or about $1.75 million).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, diamonds, dubail, france, limited edition, LimitedEdition, paris, pour le merite, PourLeMerite, tourbograph, watch

A. Lange & Sohne CEO Fabian Krone Steps Down

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

It was sad news to hear that Fabian Krone, the charming and charismatic CEO of luxury watch company A. Lange & Sohne has stepped down, and left the company. On numerous occasions A. Lange & Sohne has been heralded as the best Germany luxury brand, as well as best German watch brand. I've been to their factory and viewed many of their watches. I can easily attest to all of this being more than mere hyperbole.

While the watch industry has been down, and will be down for the next few years, there are no signs that Lange is hurting disproportionately. Plus, being under the wing of the Richemont Group certainly helps curb economic issues. So why did Mr. Krone leave the company? Hard to say, but reports suggest disagreements between him and others regarding the future direction of the company. Who Fabian disagreed with and over what issues are still a mystery to me. I have a feeling that it may be part of the stifling effect Lange experienced as being part of the Richemont Group. Though, this is speculation. When you are part of a group of brands, the problem is that issues can occur when brands compete with one another or wish to do something that the parent company does not want. For this reason there may have been pressure for Lange to act or not act in various ways when it came to future products or other company directions.

For the mean time the company COO Jerzy Schaper will take over as interim CEO until a replacement is found. Having shaken the man's hand in the past - I wish him success and prosperity in his next career move.

Via Perpetuelle.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, ceo, fabian krone, FabianKrone, resign, step down, StepDown, watch

A. Lange & Sohne Lange 31 Watch In Rose Gold

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

From an technical standpoint the A. Lange & Sohne Lange 31 watch was a nightmare to engineer. Not because the concept is difficult, but because the precision is. You see the Lange 31 has a power reserve of 31 days (744 hours), split between two mainspring barrels. The challenge was to make sure that the power moving through the slowly unwinding springs to the rest of the movement was consistent, otherwise the watch would run either too fast or too slow most of the time. This is because a fully wound spring releases a totally different amount of torque than an almost totally unwound spring.

Lange includes a winding key to wind the movement as you can't do it by hand, but you only do it once a month. Of course the dial has a power reserve meter, small seconds, and Lange's famous "out-size date." The piece you see is lovely. All this design work came after the years spent trying to make the concept work. I spoke with a watch maker recently and told him about the Lange 31 watch. He said that he didn't understand how it could be done, but if anyone could do it, it was the people at Lange.

To retain consistent power moving to the watch, the L034.1 movement uses a superior constant force escapement that regulates the torque from the mainsprings as it moves to the watch. This sounds simple, but the level of tweaking Lange had to do to get it right was likely legendary. As is the case with the Teutonic brand, the engineering team spent literally years thoroughly testing the already complete movement to ensure reliability over a long period of time. A direct personification of the German work ethic, "do it right the first time, no matter how long it takes."

The original Lange 31 watch was made available in platinum, but now a new 45.9mm wide rose gold case (with matching hand and dial markers) will be available. The watch has a warm look to it and is matched to a brown crocodile strap. Everything about the German masterpiece watch is top quality with many hours of time dedicated to hand decoration and assembly of the movement. Tested to perfection, this represents a feat of luxury un-replicated anywhere else. Price will be over $300,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: A. Lange & Sohne Lange 31 watch

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, gold, lange 31, Lange31, power reserve, PowerReserve, timepiece, watch

A. Lange & Sohne Watch Company Rated Best German Luxury Brand, By Germans

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Hard (for me) to pronounce German Business magazine Wirtschaftswoche has recently rated watch maker A. Lange & Sohne as the "Top German Luxury Brand." The magazine does a regular ranking (each two years) of Germany's most well known luxury brands which combines everything from fashion houses, to car makers, and of course watch makers.

A. Lange & Sohne beat out companies from every other segment to be the top luxury brand, not merely the top luxury watch brand. The ranking was done through interviews with over 150 industry professionals and participants, and conducted via the Munich based "Brand Rating" agency.

A. Lange & Sohne's highest marks came in the category of "brand appeal." Meaning that people indicated that they personally wanted one, or could see others wanting them (as I speculate the questions to have been like). It should be obvious that when presented with the question, "do you want an A. Lange & Sohne watch?," people were going to say "yes of course." Though, they responded in the affirmative even more so than to questions about Porsche cars, etc... A. Lange & Sohne doesn't need an award like this to be a top luxury brand, but it sure helps remind everyone else.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, company, german, germany, luxury, top, watch, Wirtschaftswoche

A. Lange & Sohne Petite Lange 1 Moonphase Limited Edition Watches

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Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

A Lange & Sohne Petite Lange 1 Moonphase Limited Edition Watches

The beautiful Petite Lange 1 gets a moon phase complication in this lovely decorated model for the ladies. Also known at the "little Lange 1," this very feminine watch collection extends the look of the Lange 1 watch dial layout over two types of mother of pearl faces in either a white color or a dark blue. Functions include the time, subsidiary seconds dial, out-size date, power reserve indicator, and moon phase indicator as part of the seconds dial. Powering the watch is A. Lange & Sohne's in-house made manually-wound L901.9 movement - a very complex little machine with over 400 parts and a 3 day power reserve.

The watch case is in 18k white gold, about 37mm wide, and 10mm thick. The bezel is lined with 58 brilliant cut diamonds totaling about 0.9 carats. The hands and markers on the watch are also in gold. In addition to the two mother of pearl dials, there is a solid silver face available. The pictured white version has a supple alligator strap, while the dark blue Petite Lange 1 has a stingray strap. The case back of the watch is covered with a sapphire crystal for a splendid view of the meticulously decorated movement.

Each watch is very attractive and still sophisticated. One of the most beautiful women's watches, it is as much artistically designed as it is a serious horological item of interest and exclusivity. Each version of these A. Lange & Sohne Petite Lange 1 Moonphase watches is limited to 150 pieces.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: A. Lange & Sohne Petite Lange 1 Moonphase

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, lady, lange 1, Lange1, moon phase, MoonPhase, petite, timepiece, watch, womens

A. Lange & Sohne Datograph Perpetual Grey Dial Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Covering all these new trendy gray watches has allowed me to realize one thing, no one can agree on how to spell the word "gray" ("grey?"). I am beginning to have no idea myself on what it correct. So I will just mix up the spelling a bit. It seems that all the nice brands have a gray toned watch this season, and German A. Lange & Sohne has announced their own - this time it is the beautiful Datograph Perpetual Calendar watch in white gold with, yes, a gray dial. The classy Datograph watch feels right in a sober feeling tone, which goes nicely with the blue trim on the moon phase and some of the hands. The main functional appeal of this white gold cased watch is the 30 minute flyback chronograph and perpetual calendar with moon phase and big-date display. The dial also features a small but useful day/night indicator.

The extremely complex L952.1 mechanical hand-made, manually-wound movement consists of 556 parts with the perpetual calendar that will not need an adjustment until the year 2100, and then again 122 years after that. The case is 41mm wide, while the dial in silver done is done with the gray tone. Everything about A. Lange & Sohne watches sing quality and refinement - not necessarily flamboyance and decadence as is the case with some other expensive watches. While not a limited edition, I expect the Datograph Perpetual Grey watch to still be quite rare - certainly a collector's piece if there was one.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, datograph, gray, gre, lange urhen, LangeUrhen, perpetual, soehne, timepiece, watch

A. Lange & Sohne's New Lange Zeitwerk Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

The new Lange Zeitwerk watch is a clever and refined attempt from German luxury watch maker A. Lange & Sohne to combine the tradition and quality they are known for, with the modern outlook that their watch makers and designers have. In essence you have an extremely high quality mechanical watch, that dispenses with most of the analog components that classic watches are known to have - instead embracing the tone of the digital generation. My opinion is that this watch is A. Lange & Sohne's secret attempt to reach a perhaps younger, more "now" focused audience while maintaining the character that the brand is known for. In all this I think they have succeeded. Let's take a closer look at the watch.

The Lange Zeitwerk uses a brand new in-house manually wound L043.1 calibre movement. The movement incorporates a "constant force" escapement complication. This is very important for this type of watch because it has two "jumping" complications, one for the hours and one for the minutes. The nature of the movement requires specific amounts of force to be used, but not all the time. For this reason a constant force escapement situated with the balance wheel ensures that the same amount of force is released all the time ensuring good rate results. If you don't understand this, that is OK. Just know that A. Lange & Sohne has been testing this watch for a long time, and the complication is unique to them, and highly refined (which is a term I use to describe Lange a lot, because it just fits). The heart of the allure behind the watch is the dial layout and functionality. This is an almost purely digital watch displaying the jumping hours and minutes - that change instantly. The seconds dial is still present, and there is a useful power reserve indicator as well. The dial is constructed in part from sterling silver. All very innovative and beautiful to look at.

The 42mm wide case is just 12.5 mm thick. The case is available in four materials. 18k white, yellow, or rose gold, and in platinum. Not too sure on price or availability yet, though it will be at least several months before it is released, and the price is likely to be in excess of $50,000 - $60,000 for the gold versions of the Lange Zeitwerk.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: A. Lange & Sohne Lange Zeitwerk watch

Tags: 2009, a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, digital, german, jumping, lange zeitwerk, LangeZeitwerk, timepiece, watch

A. Lange & S�hne Cabaret Tourbillon Watch Voted Best Watch Of 2009 In Germany

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Germany's greatest luxury watch maker has again been recognized for its masterful creations with an award for its Cabaret Tourbillon timepiece. The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in collaboration with the popular Armbanduhren (wristwatch) magazine recently released its reader judged award of "Watch of the year 2009." The top choice among the German watch lover respondents was the A. Lange & Sohne Tourbillon Cabaret. The watch has a unique innovation included in the already complex tourbillon complication, that being the inclusion of a 'hack seconds' (stop seconds) feature. This simple concept stops the seconds from running when the crown is pulled out to allow for a much more accurate setting of the time. While the complication is simple on non-tourbillon based watches, adding the stop seconds feature into a tourbillon watch was extremely difficult feat, but A. Lange & Sohne was able accomplish it with a specially engineered hacking arm.

Aside from the unique "world's first" complication, the Cabaret Tourbillon features an 18k gold case with an outsize date complication, power reserve indicator, and subsidiary seconds dial. All laid out logically and beautifully. The Cabaret Tourbillon received the award for best watch of 2009 because it really combines each element that watch lovers and collectors seek: functionality, heritage, perfect finishing, beauty, and exclusivity. A. Lange & Sohne is a perennial winner of such awards - with the most recent recognition, having been chosen from 154 different contender watches. With this winning streak I expect A. Lange & Sohne watches to win again in the future.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: a lange sohne, ALangeSohne, award, cabaret, lange, timepiece, tourbillon, watch

The Three A. Lange & Sohne "Pour le Merite" Watches Together In The "Wunderbox"

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

What is in the Wunderbox (wonderbox)? Why it is filled with the three ultra-exclusive A. Lange & Sohne "Pour le Merite" watches. The are the first-run pieces made of the featured models, each with a "0/50" serial number, and sits comfortably in this leather-lined wooden box. First is the 1994 released Lange Tourbillon 'Pour le Merite." It was the world's first one minute tourbillon to combine a fusee and chain complication in a wrist watch. Some might have though it to be mechanical complication insanity, I on the other hand agree that it deserves its namesake merit award. In the middle we see the Tourbograph "Pour le Merite" watch from 2005. Another first for A. Lange & Sohne, this watch takes the complicated nature of the 1994 Tourbillon and adds at a rattrapante (double time) chronograph into the mix. The inevitable headache you could have trying to understand how the watch functions gets diminished when you are charmed by the loveliness of its exterior. Last in the Wunderbox is Lange's newest fusee and chain complication based watch, this time without a tourbillon - the Richard Lange "Pour le Merite" just released this year. A stellar collection of treasures easily among the world's finest timepieces.

Each of the stunning watches are in platinum and devilishly luxurious. To view them on your wrist, and then again closeup at the movement running really is a wonder. The Wunderbox name is no exaggeration - to be lucky enough to acquire all three gives you the opportunity to instantly improve your mood just by spending some time with these uber exclusive watch delicacies. Unfortunately this Wunderbox is not for sale exactly, as it was part of the A. Lange & Sohne exhibit at SIHH last month. At least now you know who keeps all the "0/XX" watches in a limited edition run.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: A. Lange & Sohne Wunderbox watches