The Second Generation of the Digital Watch with a Mechanical Heart

Lange presents two new versions of its award-winning mechanical digital watch, first introduced in 2009, in platinum and rose gold. The calibre L043.6 has seven patents.

For the Zeitwerk, the master watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne took their inspiration from the famous five-minute clock at the Semper Opera House in Dresden. At the time, court clockmaker Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes was commissioned to create it. He was asked to develop a time display that would be easily legible even from the rearmost seats. It was a challenge that forced Gutkaes to rethink the assignment. Contrary to all large-format clocks with hands, he opted for a revolutionary solution: a clock that displayed the time digitally in five-minute steps. In 1841, he completed the five-minute clock with his co-worker Ferdinand Adolph Lange. The unusual idea behind this clock was transposed to the Zeitwerk, even though it switches five times more often than its source of inspiration, namely once per full minute.

Technical Specifications:
The case, in platinum or in 18kt rose gold, measures 41.9mm x 12.2mm. It has double sapphire crystals.

Movement is the German manual-wind Lange in-house caliber L043.6 with 61 jewels (2 screwed gold chatons), 18,000 vph and a power reserve of 3 days. It is crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver; balance and escape-wheel cocks engraved by hand; minute jump via constant-force escapement. It features a lever escapement, a shock-resistant cam-poised balance; superior-quality balance spring manufactured in-house with patented balance spring clamp, precision beat-adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring.

Time indicated in hours and minutes with jumping numerals; subsidiary seconds with stop seconds; power-reserve indicator. Crown for winding the watch and setting the time; pusher for rapid correction of the hour indication.

Dials can be had in solid silver rhodie with 18kt white gold hands, or solid silver black with 18kt rose gold hands.

It comes on a black or dark brown hand-stitched alligator leather strap with an a platinum or an 18kt rose gold buckle.

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