A. Lange & Söhne - For Whom the Hour Chimes
WORLDTEMPUS - 1 February 2011
This edition of the SIHH was A. Lange & Söhne's tenth year of participation, and if truth be told it did indeed also represent a juncture that new CEO Wilhelm Schmid termed, "a new phase of the brand." This new phase can not only be chalked up to the arrival of the new man from BMW, but also to a new complication - one the modern incarnation of the company had not yet tackled.
Long Wait
Any brand aspiring to the tip of the horological pyramid must include a repeating movement in its repertoire; this is a given. And it is the one complication A. Lange & Söhne had not yet introduced to its modern wristwatches, though the arrival of technical director Anthonie de Haas in 2004 perhaps heralded it.
De Haas, a specialist in repeating mechanisms, explained during the SIHH that the Lange Zeitwerk - first introduced in May 2009 - yielded the perfect platform. Its disks providing the "digital" time needed more energy than a conventional time display, so a movement with an extra-strength mainspring and a type of constant force device was conceived by Lange's clever engineers. Manually wound Caliber L043.1/2, by the way, also had enough energy left over for further complications - providing an excellent opportunity to use experience gained in the restoration of grande complication pocket watch no. 42500 to add a chiming function to it. What better platform could there have been for introducing a new era.
Chime Time
To accommodate the en passant quarter and hour strike, the Zeitwerk's case diameter has increased from 41.9 mm to 44.2 mm. The Lange Zeitwerk's one-piece, in-house gongs and hammers are visible right on the dial. The hammers' motion can be precisely timed thanks to the digital display of the hours and minutes inherent to the Lange Zeitwerk. A button located at 4 o'clock on the case can turn the sound off if so desired. Pressing it lifts the hammers out of their miniscule dial recesses and away from the gongs, locking them into place until the button is pressed again. The gongs are secured to the case band for added resonance, with the quarter hours' strike easily discernible from the "bong" at the top of the hour thanks to its higher pitch.
The Lange Zeitwerk Striking Time will be available in an unlimited white gold case with black dial and in a platinum case with a rhodium-plated dial that is strictly limited to 100 pieces.
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