You could probably look at the dial of this beautiful Lange 1 Time Zone watch and not identify anything out of the ordinary. You'd see the two watch faces, the larger showing local time, and the smaller one displaying the time of one of 24 other time zones. You'd see the day and night indicators nicely integrated into each watch face, and you'd also notice A. Lange & Sohne's iconic Out-Size Date window as well as "up" - "down" power reserve meter. Well there is something different about this world time watch.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a decision in 2007 that literally took Venezuela off the map, the GMT watch reference city map that is. One of his less popular decisions was to give Venezuela its own time zone that is 30 minutes earlier that it used to be. For this reason, the capital city of Venezuela, Caracas, could no longer serve as a reference city for that particular time zone between New York City and Rio de Janeiro. Thus, the new reference city for this time zone has been chosen by A. Lange & Sohne to be Santiago, Chile. Frankly, I think Santiago has a nicer sounding name than Caracas, so this is a good thing.

This also points to the fact that watch makers are obsessed with details and keeping current on world events, with A. Lange & Sohne taking the lead, at least when it comes to time zones. Other facts about this Lange 1 Time Zone watch include the fact that the 42mm wide case is constructed from 18k pink gold. The movement is the carefully made in-house Lange L031.1 manually-wound movement with a 72 hour power reserve. The dial is a solid grayed silver, and the strap is brown crocodile.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Today the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie SIHH 2009 officially begins in Geneva, where the best of the best watch makers come to display what new and beautiful watches the welcoming crowd can expect to see in stores soon. The perennial show favorite A. Lange & Sohne presents two new models: the limited edition Richard Lange "Pour Le Merite" and a new version of the best selling 1815 model. Sharp eyes watch the Lange Uhren manufacture eager to see how classic tradition can be made fresh each year. I got a chance to view the watches before the show and can report that I am impressed.

When high-end German watch maker A. Lange & Sohne releases a new watch, I often do a double take. Their beautiful designs remain so consistent, it simply isn't obvious what is new in each release. The most recent addition to the A. Lange & Sohne collection is the Richard Lange Pour le Merite. A provocative sounding watch bearing the name of the almost century old "Pour le Merite" (for Merit) award - that is still occasionally awarded in Germany and parts of Europe.

The Richard Lange Pour le Merite has a special complex feature in the movement called a fusee chain (constructed like a very small bicycle chain). The chain connects to the mainspring barrel and assists in providing a balanced, consistent level of power release from the mainspring (that delivers a uneven power release by default). Power release consistency is compensated due to the fact that the fusee chain is wound around a cone shaped cylinder that unravels or winds at an different rate. The fusee chain also assists with safe winding of the main spring. These complications are reserved for only the most complex watches in the world, and it is a testament to the engineering prowess of A. Lange & Sohne that it is able to produce such movements. As such, the fusee chain (constructed of 636 parts) is included in the in-house developed and manufactured L044.1 manually-wound, hand built and decorated movement.

The watch itself is 40.5mm wide and available in either 18k rose gold or platinum with a pristine white enamel face and painted dial. The hands are blued steel, and the design is traditional A. Lange & Sohne that places an emphasis on legibility. The Richard Lange Pour le Merite is a meticulously designed and constructed luxury watch that succeeds in epitomizing the spirit of high-end German watch making with its subtle handsome looks and intriguing mechanics.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.