Ever since the first collection of the new era was presented in 1994, the LANGE 1 has been the face of A. Lange & Söhne. Largely unchanged as regards its design, the second generation is endowed with a new manually wound calibre and a jumping outsize date. It advances instantaneously by one day at midnight and therefore always delivers a doubt-free reading.
The caliber inside the Lange 1 was among Lange’s first ever developed, meaning it has been a quarter century since the design of this caliber began. The men and women of Glashütte felt it was time, though no one asked for it, to give its most iconic model an internal upgrade. So, beginning with this model year, the Lange 1 will house caliber L121.1, the 50th new caliber since its re-birth two decades ago. Lange is quick to point out that the goals and aesthetics of this new caliber are indeed the same as the original, this is not merely an upgrade, but a whole movement.
We still have a double-barrel giving the watch 72 hours of power reserve. But we now also have a larger, free-sprung balance wheel with completely in-house hairspring and eccentric poising weights. Further, the trademark outsize date of the Lange 1 no longer offers a slow creep, but an instantaneous jump at midnight. The power needed for this jump is stored up within the movement hours before 12 a.m. each day.
Singapore retail price $39500
Lange 1
Lange manufacture calibre
L121.1
Number of movement parts / jewels
368/43
Screwed gold chatons
8
Escapement
Lever escapement
Oscillator
Shock-resistant balance wheel with eccentric poising weights; balance spring manufactured in-house with a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, precision beat adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring
Power reserve
More than 72 hours when fully wound
Functions
Off-centre time indication; subsidiary seconds dial with stop-seconds mechanism; outsize date; UP/DOWN power-reserve indicator
Case measures
Diameter: 38.5 millimetres; height: 9.8 millimetres
Movement measures
Diameter: 30.6 millimetres; height: 5.7 millimetres
Case versions
Platinum, pink gold, yellow gold, white gold, honey gold