A. Lange & Söhne sponsors the world’s most luxurious vintage car event, the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza, and has done so since 2012. The event has taken place every year (except one) on gorgeous Lake Como in Italy since 1929. Elizabeth Doerr went to the 2021 event and shares her impressions of the elegant event with us here.
Watch- and clockmaking has a long history in Germany, as evidenced by the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century timepieces from the Nuremberg/Augsburg area and the academic discussions of Peter Henlein, who is said to have made the world’s first pocket watch around 1505. But the country’s roots in great watchmaking do not stop there: Elizabeth Doerr takes us on an historical journey of Glashütte, the birthplace of modern Germany’s fine watches.
I clearly remember watching the history-altering events on television on November 9, 1989: the day that the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. Since then, watchmaking in Germany, just like the country as a whole, has undergone a lot of change, including the rebirth of Glashütte’s horological industry.
In October 2014, Germany celebrated 25 years of reunification and A. Lange & Söhne celebrated 20 years since the truly iconic Lange 1 was introduced. Quill & Pad had the immense honor of presenting a new film to you with a great deal of never-before-seen footage ahead of its October 25 premier in Dresden. Seven years later, we thought you might want to see it again.
October 1, 2021, marks 20 years since Günter Blümlein passed away at the age of just 58. His untimely death meant that A. Lange & Söhne lost its visionary co-founder, and the watch world lost a charismatic businessman and strategist who was a crucial factor in driving the mechanical renaissance of watchmaking in the late twentieth century. His legacy was – and remains – the three so-called LMH brands, a “supergroup” that went on to form the nucleus of Richemont’s high-level manufacturing capabilities at the turn of the millennium.
Many of you are likely to have come across at least a few heated discussions of “finishing,” a topic that seems to fascinate, and divide, watch enthusiasts. Like many people, GaryG’s starting point for serious watches was with a well-priced brand long known for its expertise in developing movements, justly viewed as offering good value for money – but not necessarily for the refinement of its movement finishing, at least on its less expensive pieces.
Waxing poetically about moon phases got Joshua excited enough to take a trip through certain “phases” of engineering excellence. So here he brings you the ten most accurate moon phase displays fitted into a wristwatch as of 2020. Join us on this odyssey through space and time.
The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual is pure WIS geekery wrapped up in a totally classic – and Germanic – design. But maybe your outfit calls for something else? In that case, Elizabeth Doerr suggests the new Saxonia Thin with aventurine dial, which she finds irresistible.
You are heading to a special event for the evening. You’re feeling elegant, you’re a fan of decorative arts, and you also have a real penchant for classic mechanics with a twist. What do you wear on your wrist? Elizabeth Doerr can’t think of many watches better than A. Lange & Söhne’s new Cabaret Tourbillon Handwerkskunst.
The date: January 13, 2012. The place: Glashütte, Germany, where one of my best friends had arranged for the two of us to visit A. Lange & Söhne. The vision: my friend extended his arm from the sleeve of his shirt, and what I saw left me reeling – my first view of the Lange Datograph Perpetual in white gold. I was confident from that very moment that this was a watch for me, but pursuit of the piece took four long years.