The German watchmaker commemorates its 25-year anniversary with no less than 10 stunning limited edition designs.
It’s a big year for German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne – it has been exactly 25 years since it launched one of its most renowned designs, the Lange 1. An undisputed modern horological icon, the Lange 1 was introduced by Walter Lange and his partner Günter Blümlein at the Dresden Palace to much controversy. The instantly recognisable design, with its asymmetric dial and outsize date paired with a lavishly finished mechanical calibre 3-day movement, was considered a provocation by many in the mid-1990s, but also firmly put the company back on the map of international precision watch-making.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Lange 1, A. Lange & Söhne has released a set of 10 commemorative watches, instead of just one special edition. We give you a quick overview of the impressive anniversary collection, all given the special birthday treatment of white gold casing, a solid silver dial and cool blued-steel hands.
1. Lange 1 25th Anniversary
To kickstart its “25th Anniversary series”, A. Lange & Söhne has released 250 pieces of a limited edition Lange 1 25th Anniversary featuring a white gold case, a solid silver dial and a hunter case back harking back to the watchmaker’s more distant history as a pocket watch maker. Usually featuring an open back case to show off Lange’s beautifully finished movements, the anniversary model features a rare closed caseback decorated with a relief engraving of the Lange manufacture building dating back to 1873, along with the words “25 JAHRE LANGE 1”.
3. Little Lange 1 25th Anniversary
In 1998, the overwhelmingly popular Lange 1 was presented in a smaller format with a diameter reduced by 2.4mm, making it perfectly balanced on smaller wrists. Retaining its famous hallmarks, the Little Lange 1 also features the twin mainspring barrel for a power reserve of three days, the power-reserve indicator, and the Lange outsize date. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Lange 1, A. Lange & Söhne is releasing 25 pieces of the Little Lange 1 featuring an argenté-coloured dial in solid silver with deep-blue printed numerals and markers, blue date numerals, and a hand-engraved balance cock with blue accents. For this edition, the streamlined number is going even more diminutive with a 36.8mm diameter (compared with the original 38.5mm).
The most complicated of A. Lange & Söhne’s watch families, the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar unites two classic complications, a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon movement, in the expressive Lange 1 style. As a tribute to its anniversary, this classic model is being introduced as a 25-piece limited white-gold edition with blued-steel hands. While retaining many of its classic design hallmarks, this ultra-rare edition features a completely hidden tourbillon movement, only visible through the sapphire caseback, and an unusual and compelling layout which sets the months around the outer edge.
6. Lange 1 Moonphase 25th Anniversary
The precise display of the waxing and waning moon is the technical and aesthetic highlight of the Lange 1 Moon Phase, launched in 2002. 15 years later, the model gets an innovative update with a new manually wound movement, featuring a calibre L121.3 combining the eponymous astronomical display with a day/night indicator. During the daytime, the moon is depicted against a bright blue starless sky; at night, it contrasts against the dark blue heavens with 383 sparkling stars. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Lange 1, the Lange 1 Moonphase 25th Anniversary is presented in an exclusive 25-watch limited edition in white gold and blued-steel hands – the thermally blued steel hands and the colour-matched inscriptions harmonise beautifully with the gradated blue tones of the celestial disc.
7. Grand Lange 1 25th Anniversary
8. Lange 1 Daymatic 25th Anniversary
The self-winding automatic sibling of the iconic Lange 1, the Lange 1 Daymatic was introduced in 2010 with a mirror image of the unmistakable asymmetrical dashboard, with the hours and minutes shifted to the right, and the subsidiary seconds and the outsize date to the left. The special features of the Lange 1 Daymatic 25th Anniversary include a white-gold case with a diameter of 39.5 millimetres and an argenté- coloured, recessed dial with blued steel hands. The inscriptions, including the numerals of the Lange outsize date, echo the blue hue of the hands.
9. Little Lange 1 Moonphase 25th Anniversary
Streamlined and elegant with a diameter of 36.8mm, the Little Lange 1 Moonphase was launched in 2009 as a ladies timepiece, perfectly balanced for smaller wrists. In commemoration of its 25th anniversary, the limited edition design is distinguished by a hand-engraved lunar disc in white gold, featuring six stars and numerous little dots that depict the starry sky, and together with the golden moons, form a three-dimensional heavenly canopy. The manufacture calibre L121.2, painstakingly finished, polished and decorated by hand, runs at a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations an hour and, thanks to its twin mainspring barrel, only needs to be wound every three days.
10. Lange 1 Tourbillon 25th Anniversary
In 2000, the impressive Lange 1 Tourbillon made its debut as the world’s first wristwatch with the unusual combination of a tourbillon, an outsize date, a three-day movement and a power-reserve indicator. As a crowning finale of its 10 anniversary designs, A. Lange & Söhne presents a limited edition range of 25 pieces of the Lange 1 Tourbillon 25th Anniversary in white gold and a solid-silver, argenté- coloured dial that contrasts with the blued steel hands. Suspended between two diamond endstones, the one-minute tourbillon features a stop-seconds mechanism, a patented system which allows the balance inside the rotating tourbillon cage to be stopped instantaneously. The colour concept is echoed in the blue-filled recesses of the hand-engraving on the tourbillon bridge and intermediate-wheel cock.
All images courtesy of A. Lange & Söhne, artwork by Curatedition. All rights reserved.
Related links:
The A. Lange & Söhne Promise of Quality Fine Watchmaking
Saxon Precision Watch Making: The Lange Vision
