Fake A. Lange & Sohne Hand Wind Watches, A. Lange & Sohne Hand Wind Price List

A. Lange & Sohne Cabaret Pink Gold (107.032)

I bought this watch for my son for his birthday. It is an absolutely beautiful A. Lange & Sohne Cabaret Pink Gold (107.032) watch. Would definately reccommend for a larger person though. It is a good size watch.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by jose rodriguez, From France Villiers Sur Marne

A. Lange & Sohne Richard Lange Pour le Mérite (260.025)

This A. Lange & Sohne Richard Lange Pour le Mérite (260.025) watch is a little smaller than it appeared.However, I like it and I would probably wear it more if it was larger.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by sherri parish, From Israel Qiryat Atta,haifa Bay

A. Lange and Sohne Double Split Silver Dial Chronograph 18K Rose Gold Men's Watch 404.032

Goes well with the new "Shirli Stunning" collection, but wish it had a dark charcoal band and maybe a white band as well.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Pacharaporn Hitanant, From Netherlands Rotterdam

He has only been responsible for the Saxon brand in Latin America since 1 April this year, but before that he had worked for Vacheron Constantin since 2008. At this year's SIAR in Mexico, Cristian Salas shared his insights for selling watches in the Latin American market.

How important is Mexico as one of your markets?
Among all the political and economic instability in the region, Mexico is the best market for us. I think it is for most brands, but for A. Lange & Söhne this is definitely the case. The Caribbean market also does well but it's seasonal, from December until April. Mexico does well all year round and sells to locals. It's a very mature market when it comes to fine watchmaking. Many of the world's most important watch collectors are Mexican and I have heard that the world's biggest collector of minute repeaters is Mexican. Somebody already asked me for a Zeitwerk Minute Repeater for this person.

Does that explain why the brand returned to the SIAR after a one-year absence?
Yes. I was a little sceptical at first but I have seen that, even though we were not in a very strategic location within the SIAR, this does not necessarily matter. I think a person who really wants to see A. Lange & Söhne timepieces will find us wherever we are. And when they do find us they already come with knowledge of the brand and grand complications.

What is the most popular collection in the market?
The Lange 1 collection is our best seller. It is recognisable and it is our iconic model. When it comes to complications it's the Zeitwerk, because everybody loves the Zeitwerk. I personally like the 1815s, especially the split-seconds model.

Do you see any impact from the Terraluna model winning the calendar watch prize at the GPHG last year as far afield as Latin America?
To be honest, not really. Collectors may be familiar with it, but many people do not even understand what the Geneva Seal is, even though several brands use it. But they are very knowledgeable about the brand itself.

Where do you think this knowledge comes from?
They read about the brand in magazines and go online, of course, but this is where the SIAR comes in. For people who are not lucky enough to go to the SIHH or Baselworld, the SIAR is often the only chance to see the latest watches from a brand. Even I only saw the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater and the Richard Lange Terraluna here for the first time.

What about Brazil? A. Lange & Söhne is not present there because of various economic barriers. Do you think that this is likely to change in the near future?
The problem is the devaluation of the currency and that there are five different taxes, one on top of the other. To put a watch into a retailer's window in Brazil you have to subsidise it so much that you would not make any money. And to send just one or two watches, as would be the case for us, we would probably actually lose money.

Mexicans can be quite impulsive when it comes to buying watches and other luxury goods. How do you manage this, given that availability is restricted by production capacity at A. Lange & Söhne?
It's funny because people are prepared to wait if they order a Ferrari, so I use this analogy. I tell customers we are exactly the same because of the limits of production. Some people are not prepared to wait for two months, but I think in these cases it is because they really do not understand. When I put things into perspective, they understand. Just two hours ago someone asked me about the availability of a Zeitwerk and I had to tell him the earliest we could get one would be the start of the next fiscal year, which for Richemont is from 1^st April 2016.
 

Having been a great success for the past two years, the Haute Horlogerie Exhibition in Asia, Watches & Wonders, will take place from 30 September to 3 October 2015 in Hong Kong. A. Lange & Söhne is once again among the twelve exhibitors who will be presenting their top-tier products at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

When he established his watch factory in 1845, the Dresden-born watchmaker Ferdinand-Adolph Lange laid the cornerstone of Saxony's precision watchmaking.
"This year, we are celebrating his 200^th birthday," says Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid. "He defined the most important distinguishing elements of the Saxon style of watchmaking, which can still be found in our modern timepieces. We look forward to sharing this knowledge with watch connoisseurs in Asia on the occasion of the third Watches & Wonders.".

The Asia Pacific region is of great importance for traditional manufacturing. It enjoys a b position in this region, which is characterised by a highly developed watch culture. As a gesture of appreciation to watch enthusiasts and collectors in the region, A. Lange & Söhne will be unveiling four debuts in Hong Kong, among them the 1815 Chronograph.

This special 39.5mm white-gold chronograph model features blue numerals and a pulsometer scale. The rhodiumed gold hands for the hours and minutes and the blued steel for the chronograph sweep seconds, minute-counter and subsidiary seconds hands reflect the colour combination of the dial. It is available only in the A.Lange & Söhne boutiques worldwide.

A new manufacture calibre writes a new chapter in the successful history of the icon whose family now includes 15 different Lange 1. Conversely, the characteristic dial configuration remained practically untouched. A slightly narrower bezel is the only visible hint of a modification. It adds openness to the face of the watch despite its unchanged diameter of 38.5 millimetres.

The familiar asymmetric dial with the outsize date display and the prominently positioned power-reserve indicator conceals the new manually wound movement with the calibre number L121.1; its development reflects nearly 25 years of experience.

Quite a few things have changed in the new movement. Its precisely jumping outsize date display switches at midnight. The force needed for this action is slowly built up during a period of several hours. Additionally, the escapement of the Lange 1 has a balance wheel with eccentric poising weights and a free-sprung hairspring crafted in-house. Beneath the hand-engraved balance cock, it still breathes with a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour. The reliable twin mainspring barrel with a power reserve of 72 hours was retained as well.

All brand-typical quality hallmarks are readily visible through the sapphire-crystal caseback. They include the Glashutte ribbing decoration of the three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver; this legacy component already protected the precious inner lives of pocket watches 150 years ago. It provides the perfect stage for the eight gold chatons that are secured with thermally blued screws.

The Lange 1 is available in the classic case-dial pairings of yellow gold/champagne, pink gold/argente and platinum/rhodie.

The moon has been preoccupying humankind for millennia. In Saxony, too, the earth's satellite, its orbital progression and its influence on various spheres of life intrigued citizens, scholars and regents alike. This interest spawned countless drawings, reports and novels that even today reflect the enthusia sm of their authors for the moon.

In the early days of lunar observations, people were interested mainly in its progression across the nocturnal skies and its changing faces. The focus among researchers shifted to its surface after the telescope was invented in the unfolding 17th century. The famous lunar map by the Dresden astronomer Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann (1796-1840) is an example from the 19th century, but the moon has lost none of its fascination to this very day. In the 1960s, Dresden native Ursula Seliger created an extensive series of detail - rich pencil drawings which she compiled in three volumes.

Today, these drawings are stored at the Palitzsch Museum in Dresden. The facility was named after Johann George Palitzsch (1723-1788), a so-called "peasant astronomer" who, apart from working on his farm, also devoted his time to astronomy and became famous for rediscovering Halley's Comet. In the evening of Christmas Day, 25 December 1758, he pointed his telescope toward the skies in search of the comet's tail. For months, astronomers all over the world had been awaiting its arrival, which had been predicted by Edmond Halley (1656-1742) as early as 1705. Halley reckoned that the comet, last seen in 1682, was periodic and would show up again in about 76 years. So its discovery by Palitzsch was no mere fluke. It resulted from years of diligent study.

When Palitzsch passed away in 1788, he left behind a library containing 3518 books and dozens of scientific instruments that 25 years later were lost to pillage during the Battle of Dresden. In homage to Palitzsch, the International Astronomical Union named three lunar craters after him in 1935. The mission of the small museum in Dresden, which is near to his devastated farm, is to inspire children and youngsters to discover their world by observing it closely and mainly with their own eyes, just as Palitzsch did in his day.

Pour l'annee 2014, A. Lange & Söhne presente trois nouveaux modeles avec une dedicace particuliere a la Lune. Ainsi, la Grande Lange 1 Phases de Lune attribue le premier rôle a la Lune en la plaçant au centre de l'affichage des heures; puis, sur la Lange 1 Tourbillon Quantieme Perpetuel, les phases lunaires s'affichent dans le cercle des petites secondes; enfin, sur la Richard Lange Quantieme Perpetuel «Terraluna» l'affichage orbital, compose de trois disques en or massif, est situe a l'arriere de la montre et indique, outre la phase de la Lune, aussi la position de celle-ci par rapport a la Terre et au Soleil.
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For the fourth time, A. Lange & Söhne invited young watchmaking talents from all over the world to enter the competition that was established in honor of Ferdinand A. Lange, the founder of fine watchmaking in Saxony. Eight young men from watchmaking schools in Germany, Austria, Japan, Denmark, Finland, France and the Netherlands have qualified for participation.
At the beginning of June, they visited the Lange manufactory in Glashutte, Saxony. After a tour of the workshops, the participants set to work themselves on the assembly of a three-quarter-plate and the engraving of a balance cock. Tours of the Glashutte Watch Museum and the Mathematics and Physics Salon in Dresden, sponsored by A. Lange & Söhne, rounded off the programme.
The task set in this year's competition is the "construction of a second time zone display on the basis of an ETA 4567 movement". The submitted works will be reviewed by a jury of watch experts. The winner will be announced at the beginning of December. The prize money of 10 000 euros is earmarked for advanced studies in the field of watchmaking.

WORLDTEMPUS - 30 January 2013

This grand complication represents the fifth 1815 model of A. Lange & Söhne's modern era following its relaunch in 1994. At that time it was already considered the timepiece that best reflected the unique tradition of the brand. The four digits making up the name of the line stand for the birth year of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, a man who would much later establish a world-famous dynasty of watchmakers. In 2009, the 1815 line experienced a comeback of sorts through the launch of an enlarged version of the original classic three-hand watch with a manually wound movement.
Fast forward to the 2013 edition of the SIHH, where the venerable collection saw its best year ever, and probably also marked the absolute highlight of the fair. But one single, rare and remarkable creation literarally eclipsed all the other new pieces by Lange, which included a couple of Saxonias, a pair of Lange 1 models and two new 1815 pieces. Even the spectacular sight of the new 1815 Rattrapante with Perpetual Calendar and Moon Phase indication could not compete with the technical and historical importance of a timepiece that will unquestionably go down in history as the greatest creation of the Saxon manufacture in its 168-year history.

Grand Sonnerie and Petite Sonnerie
Nothing would have prepared the visitors on Monday morning for the vision of an oversized wristwatch mock-up vertically connecting the floor and ceiling of the A.Lange & Söhne booth. Even at a distance, just looking at the unusual number of hands and indications of the watch, one could feel that something remarkable was to be unveiled. At the press presentation, the best was only revealed at the end via the unmistakable sound of a minute repeater mechanism adding 3 double strikes to 6 single strikes. The hour was 6:15 PM, or, as they say in Germany, 18:15. The right moment to reveal the Lange & Söhne 1815 Grand Complication, an extraordinary timepiece that got Tino Bobe, Lange's technical director, a little emotional. "This is the most complicated wristwatch we have ever done at Lange & Söhne, and for sure also the most complicated wristwatch in Germany," he remarked.

This absolute marvel of fine mechanical watchmaking contains no less than seven functions, three of them not visible at first sight because they are acoustic time indications. The 1815 Grand Complication is equipped with a grand sonnerie, a petite sonnerie and a minute repeater, and has the additional choice of grand or small sdtrike represented by a "K" and a "G" ("Klein" and "Groß" in German) on an external slide button located at 6 o'clock. On the other hand, if one does not want to disturb a live performance at the Dreden Semper Opera, the possibility to switch to silent mode is right at hand through a second external slide button, this time located at 12 o'clock. An "S" for strike and an "R" for silence ("Schlagen" and "Ruhe" in German) stands for the equivalent of a mechanical mute device.

The term grand sonnerie means that at the passing of every quarter hour, one hears the hours and the quarters; the hours sounded by a low tone and the quarters by a double tone. Two hammers strike on two gongs. The small or "petite" sonnerie is the solution for the discerning collector who thinks that the alternative is too noisy but still wants to hear something. By pushing the slide to "K" (small sonnerie), the watch will only strike the hours on the hour and the quarters with a double strike on the passing of each quarter hour.

Monopusher Rattrapante Chronograph Perpetual Calendar
The next part of the grand complication to fall under the scrutiny of Tino Bobe was the chronograph, whose components are located on the movement side of the watch (perpetual calendar on the dial side and striking mechanism in between). It has a normal chronograph hand (in gold) and a minute counter (blue hand) on the 12 o'clock subdial. Additionally, there are two blued steel hands, one for the rattrapante (double chronograph) and another for the "flying" seconds located at 6 o'clock. This indication known as a foudroyante is quite unusual to include in a grand complication and Bobe confessed that Lange had to build an extra wheel train and barrel inside the movement for the watch to have this function. The unusual, and in the opinion of Anthonie de Haas (product development director at Lange), very underestimated indication, cuts each second into five parts, or five-fifths of a second. The two chronograph push buttons located at 1:30 and 10:30 reveal that this is a monopusher chronograph, which makes it the ninth chronograph system to be developed by Lange overall. The start, stop and reset functions are activated by the button at 1:30, while the rattrapante function is activated by the button located at 10:30.
On the beautiful enamel dial made of no less than five parts (only one dial in twenty turns out to be just perfect), we find not only hour and minute indications, but also a traditionally represented perpetual calendar: the date at 3 o'clock, the day of the week at 9 o'clock and the combination of month and leap year at 12 o'clock. The moon phase at 6 o'clock is a work of art in itself, made of solid gold above an dark blue enameled sky. It boasts the Lange standard accuracy of 122 years.
Private viewing
The 1815 Grand Complication was safely displayed in a separate room on the first floor of the Lange & Söhne booth, where de Haas served as a gatekeeper against the curiosity of the more than 1,200 journalists that would certainly have demanded to the see the unusual creation in the metal. I, on the other hand, was lucky enough to be invited to penetrate the bhold where de Haas revealed some additional features of the piece in a "look but don't touch" session. I was told, "There are many grand complications, but not that many with a grand sonnerie in combination with a perpetual calendar and a rattrapante chronograph, and not even in combination with foudroyante seconds." De Haas confesses that in his opinion, "The grand sonnerie is the highest complication possible for a grand complication. It means a lot of tears, headaches and stress." One single watchmaker will work on a single piece for a whole year, "Not because he is lazy or slow, or there are too many pieces," de Haas continues, "but because he has to adapt all the functions to each other."

Firstly, the watchmaker wants to be sure that at 10 o'clock the watch will strike ten times, and not six times, or eleven times. The watchmaker has to test this during the night by installing a microphone and hearing the recording the next day. After counting the strikes, he has then to analyze what didn't work and why, and decide on the right modifications. "If he doesn't make the right decision, he will easily correct one mistake by building in sixteen others," confirms de Haas as he quickly moves on to a different aspect of the watch and demonstrates how to wind the masterpiece: "Turning the crown in a clockwise direction will wind the barrel of the movement (36 hours' power reserve) and a second little barrel especially dedicated to the foudroyante seconds due to the higher energy demand of the flying indication. When we turn the crown counterclockwise, we wind the big barrel of the striking mechanism and the grand and petite sonnerie." The watch enjoys 30 hours of power reserve in grand sonnerie mode, and 46 hours in petite sonnerie mode. It was at this point in time that I heard the strike live for the first time, a soft and audible sound followed by the commentary of de Haas that "You can almost hear the hands of the watchmaker with his diamond file shortening or adjusting the gongs."
The "teacher" then focuses my attention on the slide button located on the left side of the rose gold case. But only the shape appears to resemble the traditional slide button one usually finds on the majority of minute repeaters on the market. The conventional slide button has a simultaneous winding function when it is pushed along the case, but in Lange's grand complication this is not necessary; "Here the slide acts only as a switch allowing the energy of the dedicated barrel to pass."
No compromise in terms of quality
All this horological beauty is packed in a 50 mm case, a size that most would not hesitate to consider huge under the present watchmaking status quo. The fact is that there are many timepieces out there housed within 48 or 49 mm cased with a lot less technology inside. Considering the importance of the piece and the fact that it was made to be used and worn, Lange decided not to hold back on its robustness, ending up with 20 mm in height for the case. De Haas sums this up with a short "no compromise in terms of quality" statement. Bobe argues that they could have made every little lever thinner, but nobody would be assured that it would work perfectly over time adding that "thinness is not the best argument one would expect from a Lange watch, but rather that it is solid, that it works and it is precise."

A. Lange & Söhne's Grand Complication is directly inspired by a complicated pocket watch of the past, though it is able to mesh the best of both worlds. This was a process that took no less than seven years of intense study and development, particularly regarding how to optimize the gongs. Lange actually knew what material to use, but the technique of how to use it was no longer available to the brand's technician's in the modern age. The gongs had to be very hard but couldn't break with every shock; the material for the hammers had to be fine-tuned as did its weight and counter spring. "It was a constant trial-and-error process mixed with a lot of study, sometimes fascinating, other times frustrating," confessed de Haas. The 876 components of the Lange Grand Complication Caliber L.1902 (833 are found within the 1902 Referenc 42500 pocket watch) are not a record-breaking number for a watch of this complexity, but they do attest that simplicity in complication is an art not mastered by many. Although I can guess the presence of a transparent sapphire crystal case back, the grand complication remains tightly secured in its position, leaving the image of its complex movement to the imagination.

The scarcity of images and information on this particular masterpiece is slightly sweetened by a promise by Arnd Einhorn, Lange's PR Director, that over the next 18 months we will be literally bombarded with information and additional specification details on the piece. The grand complication will also go on a world tour in order to reach the most discerning collectors and fans of the manufacture. In the meantime, six pieces will be produced in the next six years. Not that Lange isn't able to continue to produce more pieces after that period, but as de Haas puts it, "Most collectors will certainly not want to wait more than six years for their watches." A second watchmaker is presently being trained on this particular piece. The Lange 1815 Grand Complication is, after all, not so much about engineering (as other brands so often underscore). This remarkable piece requires a watchmaker's extreme and logical thinking as well as a very fine hand - making the Lange 1815 Grand Complication, unequivocally, the pinnacle of high watchmaking.

For more than a decade, A. Lange & Söhne's Datograph was considered by many to be the quintessential chronograph. On the one hand, it was because of its technical features, on the other because of the unparalleled harmony of its dial. With a number of enhancements, Lange's engineers are now proving that excellence can be taken a step further. With a power reserve extended to 60 hours, a power-reserve indicator, and a proprietary oscillation system, the new Datograph Auf/Ab shines in a platinum case enlarged to a diameter of 41 millimetres.

When it was first presented in 1999, the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph already attracted global attention. With its sophisticated technology and subtly balanced design, it clearly stood out from the masses of timepieces with stopwatch functions. The classic column-wheel calibre with a precisely jumping minute counter and flyback function united the cardinal virtues of an exemplary chronograph in a movement of peerless mechanical eloquence and aesthetic appeal. These internal assets were complemented on the outside by the harmony of the dial ensemble: forming an equilateral triangle, the Lange outsize date and the two bright subsidiary dials for the seconds and the minute counter contrasted well against the black dial, assuring superb legibility.

The new Datograph Auf/Ab embodies all these features as well. Additionally, Lange's engineers and product designers worked intensely to refine it further. What meets the eye first is the larger case. With a diameter increased to 41 millimetres, this timepiece gains extra prominence on the wrist. Rhodiumed gold baton hour markers on the dial - they also replace the former Roman numerals II, VI, and X - emphasize its clear design and identify the watch as a member of the Saxonia family that was just revised last year. A small detail is typical of the perfectionism pursued at Lange: The aperture of the date display was adjusted to match the bigger size of the case. It was enlarged by four percent to preserve the balanced proportions of the dial architecture.

The designation "Auf/Ab" in its name refers to an additional function: A power-reserve indicator at 6 o'clock reliably tells the owner how much of the extended 60-hour running time remains available. Only when the hand enters the red zone on the third day will it be necessary to supply the calibre L951.6 movement with fresh energy. The 24 extra power-reserve hours versus the previous model were achieved mainly with a larger mainspring barrel.

The large balance developed by Lange and crafted in-house has six eccentric poising weights that can be very precisely adjusted to fine-tune its rate accuracy. It is powered by a balance spring, also developed and crafted on site by Lange. To assure optimised rate values at its classical frequency of 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour, the spring is scrupulously matched to the characteristic of the movement.

Among many other technical refinements, the Datograph Auf/Ab features the comfortable but technically complex flyback function found only in very few chronographs. Originating from the early days of aviation, this mechanism makes it possible to perform instantly consecutive time measurements by combining three steps - stop, reset, restart - into one: One single push of a button will stop and reset the Datograph Auf/Ab in the middle of an ongoing time measurement. When the button is released, a new time measurement is initiated immediately.

The sapphire-crystal caseback reveals one of the technically most immaculate and also most beautiful chronograph movements ever made. It allows the owner to observe the most interesting of the many mechanical processes and artisanal subtleties. Highlights include the precisely jumping minute counter that guarantees exact time measurement, the column wheel that controls the chronograph functions, and the whiplash-spring-secured precision beat adjustment system on the hand-engraved balance cock. All surfaces are meticulously finished by hand. Four screwed gold chatons visually accentuate the micromechanical artistry of this opus. Thus, the apotheosis of time measurement presents itself anew at the state of the art.