When the Lange 1 was launched on October 24, 1994 it sent a shockwave through the watch industry. Not only had one of the most illustrious historical brands been resuscitated after an almost 45-year involuntary break (never mind all it took to get to that resuscitation), but the sheer audacity of the off-center displays of the flagship model – which had little to no historical precedence for A. Lange & Söhne and was then an uncommon watch design – was breathtaking.

The eccentric dial design allowed for a harmonious visual balance of the two time-telling subdials, while the power reserve hand and logo were punctuated by the large date window in an unexpectedly balanced way. The Lange 1 was – and remains – gloriously unique.

About that date display: this was the modern era’s first large date (A. Lange & Söhne calls it the “outsize” date), and it triggered the trend for large dates that still runs strong 25 years later. Since the Lange 1, practically every major brand has developed or “obtained” their own large date displays, which eventually led movement specialist Dubois Dépraz to develop modules for common consumption.

In terms of technology, it is hard to beat the Lange 1 for quality; quality is the name of Lange’s game, and this begins with the untreated German silver plates and bridges and continues with each movement being assembled twice before it’s encased. And the quality doesn’t end there.

The Lange 1 has become the soul of A. Lange & Söhne, representing everything that is extraordinary about one of the most exceptional brands of our time. And all that in a very wearable, somewhat surprisingly understated watch.

Celebrating 25 years of the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

In January 2019, A. Lange & Söhne kicked off a series of celebratory special editions in honor of the quarter-century anniversary of its flagship watch – one of the watch industry’s true icons.

I think that this watch’s career would have made re-founders Walter Lange and Günter Blümlein proud, as its popularity 25 years after the duo reformed the classic German brand (Blümlein sadly passed away in 2001, and Walter Lange just recently in 2017) shows no signs of waning.

The models emerging in commemoration of the anniversary all share the same incredible silver-and-blue color scheme, even though they are all not straight-up Lange 1 models: the product managers have reached across the entire palette of Lange 1 variations for these celebration models.

Let’s take a look at the five that have thus far surfaced in the first half of 2019.

Lange 1 Anniversary Edition Reference 191.066

The dedication of the brand’s designers to keeping the aesthetics accurate but bending them a little allowed a brand-new, beautiful version of the original Lange 1 to come to the fore with a new silver-and-blue color scheme – making this the most “different” Lange 1 to date.

Let’s start with this watch’s visage, where the dial markers, numerals, and text are pad-printed on the hour-and-minute subdial, making for a stark difference from the applied numerals we usually see in that position. This detail makes the special-edition watch feel a bit more modern, especially in combination with the deep-blue hue.

This blue matches the blued steel hands nearly perfectly, even extending to the large date’s blue numerals. The only other color on this dial comes from two tiny red triangles on the power reserve indicator informing the wearer when the manually wound watch’s energy is running low and needs winding.

The other major change from the original is that the new dial features offset, slightly recessed subdials somewhat resembling other Lange 1 variations that have featured guilloche, though this type of recess is unique to this model.

The final change from the original is the location of the “Made in Germany” predicate, which has moved from underneath the main dial to inside the subdial for seconds – a move probably necessitated by the addition of the recesses, which may have encroached on the area in which the words were previously printed.

The movement powering this beauty is the updated Lange 1 Caliber L121.1 first seen in 2015 with twin spring barrels delivering 72 hours of power reserve (and a neat feature that sees the second hand stopping at “60” when it runs out of energy). Its vast three-quarter plate with eight screw-mounted gold chatons are finished to masterful levels.

In the Lange 1 25^th Anniversary, the balance cock features a unique engraving incorporating the shape of the large date display showing the number 25. This number serves dual purposes: to celebrate 25 years since the Lange 1 launch and to reminisce October 24, the date it was introduced to the public in 1994. The large posters decorating the room at the Dresden Castle and the press photos showed the watch with the number 25 in the date display, cleverly anticipating photos of the watch being shown in the newspaper the next day.

On top of that, the engraving is filled with the same deep shade of blue from the dial, continuing the “blue” theme.

This engraving change is an interesting way to add a special touch to the movement marking it as part of the anniversary edition. Like A. Lange & Söhne itself, it is understated and classy.

The Lange 1 25^th Anniversary edition also features a secondary hinged case back that opens to expose the standard case back’s sapphire crystal (and the breathtaking view through it). This secondary case back – also called an officer’s case back – features a detailed engraving of the A. Lange & Söhne headquarters dating back to 1873, the names of co-founders Walter Lange and Günter Blümlein, and the words “25 Years Lange 1” in German (“25 Jahre Lange 1”).

I love that Lange and Blümlein’s names are engraved into this watch. It embodies for me the very personal way that A. Lange & Söhne conducts its business, here specifically by ensuring we never forget its hard-earned past.

For more information, please visit alange-soehne.com/en/stories/lange1-25th-anniversary.

Quick Facts A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 25^th Anniversary Edition Reference 191.066
Case: 38.5 x 10.7 mm, white gold, officer’s case back
Dial: solid silver, blued steel hands
Movement: manual winding Caliber L121.1, untreated German silver plates and bridges, hand-engraved balance cock, 368 movement components, twin spring barrels for 72 hours of power reserve, free-sprung balance,  3 Hz/21,600 vph, swan-neck fine adjustment
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; power reserve, instantaneously jumping large date
Limitation: 250 pieces
Price: €43,700/$47,900

Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase Reference 139.066

February 2019 gifted collectors with the next special edition Lange 1 watch: a twenty-fifth-anniversary variation of the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase.

Originally launched in 2014 in this size (2.5 mm larger than its predecessor, the Lange 1 Moon Phase), the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase’s focus has always been the hand-painted moon disk. And this larger-sized case sees the moon phase indication placed within the main time dial for immediate viewing.

And in sharp contrast to the 2014 original, whose gold moon phase disk was coated using a patented process that created a vivid, brilliant blue and 300 laser-cut stars of varying sizes, this version is kept monochrome in hand-engraved white gold to emphasize the blue accents of the anniversary design.

While not immediately obvious due to its larger dial, the large date size has been expanded by four percent as well. These elements give the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase’s dial an overall calm that is underscored by the attractive blue elements of the anniversary edition.

For more information, please visit alange-soehne.com/en/timepieces/grand-lange-1-moon-phase/grand-lange-1-moonphase-25th-anniversary.

Quick Facts Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase Reference 139.066
Case: 41 x 9.4 mm, white gold
Dial: solid silver, blued steel hands, hand-engraved white gold moon disk
Movement: manual winding Caliber L095.3, untreated German silver plates and bridges, hand-engraved balance cock, 446 movement components, twin spring barrels for 72 hours of power reserve, free-sprung balance,  3 Hz/21,600 vph, swan-neck fine adjustment
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; power reserve, instantaneously jumping large date, moon phase
Limitation: 25 pieces
Price: $51,500/€45,800

Little Lange 1 Reference 181.066

At 36.8 mm, the Little Lange 1 – first envisioned for the female wrist in 1998 in a case 1.7 mm smaller than the classic Lange 1 – gets the anniversary treatment here with a white gold case, solid silver dial, and blue color accents.

There is very little optical difference between this anniversary introduction of March 2019 and that of the regular-sized Lange 1 in January 2019. But there are technical differences not immediately apparent – such as the recessed corrector for setting the date instead of the classic Lange 1’s push piece.

Despite its somewhat smaller case size, as of 2018 the Little Lange 1 has nonetheless been powered by Caliber L121.1 found in the first anniversary piece described above. Aside from the size, the most significant difference is the absence of the officer’s case back, which would have made this watch disproportionately thick.

For more information, please visit alange-soehne.com/en/timepieces/little-lange-1/little-lange-1-25th-anniversary.

Quick Facts A. Lange & Söhne Little Lange 1 Reference 181.066
Case: 36.8 x 9.5 mm, white gold
Dial: solid silver, blued steel hands
Movement: manual winding Caliber L121.1, untreated German silver plates and bridges, hand-engraved balance cock, 446 movement components, twin spring barrels for 72 hours of power reserve, free-sprung balance, 3 Hz/21,600 vph, swan-neck fine adjustment
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; power reserve, instantaneously jumping large date
Limitation: 25 pieces
$37,600/€35,500

Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Reference 720.066

April’s anniversary piece, the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, is based on a timepiece that stole the show at the 2012 SIHH. “This is the most complicated Lange 1 to date,” technical director Anthony de Haas said to me as he introduced the asymmetrical beauty at that time.

The asymmetrical dial arrangement of the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, which has become a grail watch for many dedicated followers, signifies that this piece is automatic as the manually wound model’s displays are all on the opposite sides.

Caliber L082.1 comprises a whopping 624 individual components, 68 of which are jewels, including a diamond endstone for the tourbillon. This tourbillon style, first introduced in the Cabaret line in 2008, has a tourbillon that “hacks” (stops) when the crown is pulled out for high-precision time setting.

The perpetual calendar’s unique design includes a rotating peripheral month ring, which keeps the dial clean, a typical characteristic of the Lange 1 family. All of the calendar displays, including the characteristic large date, advance simultaneously and instantaneously, and the moon phase is accurate to a full day for 122 years, like that of the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase.

To keep the integrity of the Lange 1 dial style intact, Lange designers chose to do something that hardly any other brand in the industry except Patek Philippe does on a regular basis: they have kept the tourbillon hidden underneath the dial. Only noticeable from the front by the discreet word “tourbillon” printed within the hour-and-minute subdial, the whirlwind escapement can be viewed through the sapphire crystal case back at the 6 o’clock position.

The movement is also outfitted with A. Lange & Söhne’s own in-house balance spring and one single spring barrel as opposed to the two that the original Lange 1 is outfitted with.

This 41.9 mm anniversary timepiece, usually available in unlimited in pink gold or platinum cases (the latter as of 2016 as you can see here), comes in the white gold case with blue accents on the front and back that all of the anniversary pieces display.

For more information, please visit alange-soehne.com/en/timepieces/lange-1-tourbillon-perpetual-calendar/lange-1-tourbillon-perpetual-calendar-25th.

Quick Facts A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Reference 720.066
Case: 41.9 x 12.2 mm, white gold
Movement: automatic Lange Caliber L082.1 with free-sprung balance inside a one-minute hacking tourbillon; 3 Hz frequency/21,600 vph; 50-hour power reserve, diamond endstone
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; perpetual calendar with large date, weekday, month, leap year, and moon phase accurate to 122 years
Limitation: 25 watches
Price: $335,800/€321,100

Lange 1 Time Zone Reference 116.066

May’s showers did not bring us flowers, but did gift us with an ultra-cool version of another classic by A. Lange & Söhne: the anniversary edition of the Lange 1 Time Zone.

At the time of its introduction in 2005, the down-to-earth Lange 1 Time Zone was a milestone in the young history of the reborn company. The added world time function is a very practical complication – A. Lange & Söhne doesn’t have it any other way.

Time zones were established during the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. in 1884, and A. Lange & Söhne’s watchmakers were the first to manufacture pocket watches with two separately adjustable time displays that same year. In those days, though, only very few people were in need of such a complication, and unfortunately only a few of these watches are around today. However, more than 100 years later and with fast international travel, the second time zone complication is more useful than ever.

The Grand Lange 1 case (41.9 mm instead of 38.5 mm) was chosen to accommodate the extra displays, gears, and reference city ring. The dial’s visuals hardly seem changed outside of the added reference city ring; it fully retains the beauty of the original Lange 1.

The main time zone – including for the first time a very small but harmonious subsidiary seconds dial – is displayed in the larger off-center subdial located on the left side. The second time zone is placed where the larger subsidiary seconds dial is usually located on the Lange 1. Each time zone has its own unobtrusive day/night indication in a small adjacent subdial.

A. Lange & Söhne’s patented large date remains in its original place. The displays are completed by the “auf und ab” power reserve display in its original spot.

This watch is also user-friendly as world timers should be in this day and age. The crown is used for winding and setting as usual, while a pusher at 10 o’clock sets the large date. Another pusher at 8 o’clock moves the reference city ring, which is synchronized with the hour hand of the second time zone and its day/night indicator, in increments of one hour.

However, The Lange 1 Time Zone is outfitted with a special feature that other world timers cannot compete with: if the wearer happens to be abroad and wants to reverse the priority of the two time zone displays, an ingenious adjustment mechanism in the timepiece makes this possible.

All that needs to be done is hold the pusher down for the second time zone to “freeze” the hour hand, then use the crown to adjust the time on the large dial. The date display remains synchronized with the main display, regardless of whether this is home or local time. The small arrow within the second time zone subdial points out the reference city of the time zone currently in use.

Based on manually wound Caliber L031.1 from the first-generation Lange 1, this movement includes all the features typically found on a watch made in the state-of-the-art Glashütte factory: a screw balance with swan-neck fine adjustment, four screw-mounted gold chatons, and a hand-engraved balance cock – here with the blue-filled anniversary engravings.

The gears added for the second time zone function have been placed on top of the Glashütte three-quarter plate and can easily be seen through the sapphire crystal case back. The bridge carries the blue-filled anniversary engravings, including the numeral 25.

Additionally, this watch boasts three full days of power reserve thanks to twin spring barrels as well as the patented large date. As is the case with all A. Lange & Söhne movements, this one uses untreated German silver and is assembled twice. This is no mean feat when the masterpiece in question comprises a full 417 parts (including 54 jewels) as this one does.

A small adjustment to the Lange 1 Time Zone’s reference city ring came with the 2009 collection where Caracas was exchanged for Santiago de Chile (September 2007 saw Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez enacting a new law that put Venezuela four and a half hours behind GMT, rather than the GMT minus 5 hours zone it was previously in). Chile’s capital, Santiago de Chile, remains in that time zone and thus replaced Caracas on the dial – seen here marked as “Santiago” in blue.

For more, please visit alange-soehne.com/en/timepieces/lange-1-time-zone/lange-1-timezone-25th-anniversary.

Quick Facts A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone Reference 116.066
Case: 41 x 10.9 mm, white gold
Dial: solid silver, blued steel hands
Movement: manual winding Caliber L031.1, untreated German silver plates and bridges, hand-engraved balance cock, 417 movement components, twin spring barrels for 72 hours of power reserve, free-sprung balance, 3 Hz/21,600 vph, swan-neck fine adjustment
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; second time zone, world time, 2 day/night indications, power reserve, instantaneously jumping large date
Limitation: 25 pieces
Price: $52,800/€49,000

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