A little iconic timepiece of true horological perfection, for her.
Is it time?
Whatever the occasion, when you want to show your love and appreciation to the one special lady who means the world to you, it is time. For her who straightens not just your shirts but the household (and you too, occasionally), who listens to your ranting and laughs at your bad jokes, who agrees with you even when you are wrong, and who might have to tolerate your noisy snoring at night (which is, by the way, not normal and you might want to consult a sleep specialist), there is no better way to express your appreciation and love than to give her a little time… and I mean, the Little Lange 1.
The original Lange 1 was introduced in 1994. An iconic timepiece of true horological perfection, the Lange 1 has had several modifications both internal (mechanically) and external (morphologically) over the past 24 years. These include the addition of complications to this already well crafted, exquisite and elegant timepiece: the moon phase, the moon phase “lumen”, the daymatic version, the time zone, the perpetual calendar, tourbillion perpetual calendar handwerkskunst, and of course, the upsized grand Lange 1 version.
In 2015, A. Lange & Söhne upgraded the Lange 1 with a new impeccable in-house calibre L121.1.
The difference is a larger, free-sprung balance wheel with new in-house hairspring and eccentric poising weights. In addition, the outsize date now, no longer is a slow creep (around midnight), but an instantaneous jump at midnight. The power needed for this jump is gradually stored up within the movement, during the day hours before 12 a.m. Notably, when the power runs out and when the watch stops, the second hand automatically stops at the zero 12 position too.
The beauty and harmony of this German precious metal timepiece lies in its flawlessly designed dial.
The Lange 1 features an off-centre hour/minute dial on the left, a small second hand sub-dial on the lower right, an outsize date, on the top right, with a large power reserve indicator on the right rim edge. These 4 indicators and sub-dials are strategically positioned in a well-balanced, pleasant and congenial way. This golden ratio, with a subtle hidden isosceles triangle in the design is the perfect premise of the Lange 1 aesthetic.
This aesthetic, together with traditional elements iconic to the Lange 1 watch family headlined the debut of the Little Lange 1 Guilloché Moon Phase (with calibre L121.2) last year at SIHH 2017. The Little Lange 1 so named, due to its case diameter being only 36.8 millimetres.
Little Lange 1, images courtesy of Dr. Kenny Pang
This year at SIHH 2018, A. Lange & Söhne introduced the new version of the Little Lange 1 sans moon phase in three colours.
In grey, brown and berry (a shade of purple), the beautiful guilloché dials in gold and alligator leather straps are sublimely colour-coordinated.
For your special lady, you can choose between two white-gold versions with purple or grey dials and a pink-gold version with a brown dial.
The guillochéd gold dial in purple framed by a white-gold case version is a boutique exclusive, limited to 100 pieces worldwide.
There is no better choice than this Little Time (Little Lange 1) for the one and only lady in your life.
If she hasn’t already pre-ordered one for herself, that is.
