A. Lange & Söhne | Lange 1 Daymatic

Lange 1 Daymatic

Self-winding with retrograde date display

The Lange 1, with its roots in pocket watches, is a landmark model that heralded the revival of A. Lange & Söhne, featuring a unique asymmetrical balance of time and minute dials, a small seconds subdial, and an outsize date display. This beloved icon of the brand has finally evolved into a self-winding timepiece. At first glance, it appears unchanged, but the elements on the dial are actually reversed, and the power reserve indicator has been replaced with a retrograde date display. It's a testament to the brand's excellence that they have fundamentally rethought the design elements and composition, not just made it self-winding.

Self-winding, yellow gold case, 39.5mm diameter, sapphire crystal case back, ¥3,843,000 (estimated retail price), scheduled for release in July.

BRAND HISTORY
In the early 19th century, during the zenith of the Kingdom of Saxony's prosperity, Ferdinand Adolph Lange trained as a watchmaker under Friedrich Gutkaes, a court watchmaker in Dresden. The brand's history began with the watch workshop he established on the outskirts of Dresden.

Adolf Lange not only devised the three-quarter plate, which remains a renowned traditional technique today, but also successively developed the tools necessary for component manufacturing. By widely disseminating manufacturing methods for each component to the apprentices working under him, he laid the foundation for the brand in a single generation.

While continuing as a family business, A. Lange & Söhne, leveraging the manufacturing techniques of court watchmakers, produced pocket watches and wristwatches, growing into a top brand in the European watchmaking world by the early 20th century. However, its operations were temporarily interrupted by World War II. After the war, the esteemed name of A. Lange & Söhne lay dormant in history, having been confiscated and nationalized as a state-owned enterprise in the former East Germany.

However, in 1990, with the reunification of East and West Germany, Walter Lange, the great-grandson of the founder, magnificently revived the former watchmaking traditions in his homeland. He poured the technical expertise and decorative techniques cultivated since the Kingdom of Saxony era into the field of wristwatches, successively releasing supreme masterpieces such as the Lange 1 and Datograph.

The brand continues to demonstrate an unbridled spirit of innovation, which could be described as Saxon tenacity, by obtaining patents for the development of the outsize date, which displays the date prominently with two discs, and the zero-reset mechanism, its unique seconds-setting mechanism. Thus, today, it has re-established its status as one of the pinnacles of the watchmaking world, continuing to reign in the 21st century as an object of admiration for watch enthusiasts.

Founded: 1845
Place of Founding: Near Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Main Collection Names: Lange 1, Datograph, Double Split, Richard Lange, Saxonia, Cabaret, Arkade
Inquiries: A. Lange & Söhne 03-3288-6639

Official Website: http://www.lange-soehne.com/