TOURBOGRAPH “Pour le Mérite”
Platinum watch (41.2 mm diameter x 14.3 mm height) equipped with a Lange manufacture Calibre L903.0 movement, manually wound, hand assembled and decorated, plates and bridges of untreated German silver, precision-adjusted in 5 positions. 465 parts plus more than 600 chain parts, shock-proof glucydur-alloy screw balance, Nivarox 1 hairspring, 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, 36-hour power reserve, sapphire crystal front and back, silver dial. Functions: hours, minutes, power reserve, one-minute tourbillon with fusée-and-chain transmission, chronograph with rattrapante function. Chrono push-button at 2 o’clock, reset button at 4 o’clock, rattrapante push-button at 10 o’clock, crown for winding and setting time.

The Lange L903.0 mechanical movement through the sapphire crystal caseback.


Introducing this new masterpiece of mechanical watchmaking recently at a special event in Glashütte, Germany, Fabian Krone, the brand’s CEO, explained how Günter Blümlein, the late lamented and much admired co-founder and Managing Director of Lange Uhren GmbH, launched the project for this timepiece some ten years ago. Given the limited capacity at that time of the newly created company, Blümlein sketched out his initial ideas for the timepiece and worked in co-operation with Renaud & Papi, the mechanical movement specialists from Le Locle, for its development.
Fabian Krone, along with the entire Lange & Söhne team at the event, posthumously dedicated the result, the Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite”, to Günter Blümlein who passed away in 2001.




The mainspring barrel and the fusée are connected by a delicate chain which alone comprises more than 600 parts.



The tourbillon carriage comprising 84 parts and weighing less than half a gram.
Fusée and chain optimizes the rate accuracy of the Tourbograph.


The fusée-and-chain
The most complex and exclusive wristwatch ever made by A. Lange & Söhne, the Tourbograph is a combination of extraordinary complications, one of which is the intricate fusée-and-chain mechanism which takes into account a circumstance subject to the laws of physics: the mainspring of a mechanical watch does not deliver the same torque when fully wound as when nearly unwound. The power in the final phase of unwinding weakens and can cause rate inaccuracies. Hence the mainspring barrel and the fusée in the Tourbograph are interconnected with a delicate chain consisting of 600 parts. Whilst the watch is wound using the crown, the chain is wound up on the tapered fusée and the spring in the barrel becomes taut. The spring’s power is delivered to the movement via the fusée with constant torque. The mechanism relies on the lever and fulcrum principle discovered by Archimedes … when the mainspring is fully wound and exerts its full force, the chain pulls at the smaller circumference – or lever – of the fusée and when the mainspring’s power declines, it pulls at the larger circumference of the fusée.
This ingenious mechanism improves the rate accuracy of the watch across the entire power reserve range. A planetary gear train comprising 38 parts, with a diameter of 10 millimetres, found inside the fusée, keeps the movement running even while the mainspring is being wound.

The tourbillon
As Lange underline, the tourbillon no longer plays a pivotal role in a wristwatch, given that it was initially created by Breguet to compensate for the influence and cumulative effects of gravity on the balance of pocket watches. This problem doesn’t exist with wristwatches as they are in constant movement, nevertheless, the fascination of a tourbillon’s orbital motion continues to enthral watch aficionados – not to mention the master craftsmen who create them. This elegant tourbillon has a decoratively curved, mirror-polished steel tourbillon cage comprising 84 finished components that weigh less than half a gram. Another special feature is that the staff of the filigree cage is crowned on both sides with a diamond endstone.
The tourbillon contains the escapement and rate-regulating elements such as the pallet lever, the balance and the hairspring and this complex assembly rotates about its axis once a minute.

The chronograph
The chronograph with rattrapante function is the very pinnacle of mechanical timing technology. The mechanism, positioned directly behind the sapphire crystal caseback, is one of the most beautiful assets of a mechanical movement. The twin sweep seconds hands allow additive time measurements of up to 30 minutes as well as, concurrently, the measurement of any number of lap times. This complex function is controlled by the pushbutton at 10 o’clock.
For stopwatch enthusiasts, the Tourbo-graph features two classic column wheels in an elaborate mechanical sub-system to precisely control the two chronograph functions.

The finishing touches
The Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” is an exceptional timepiece that takes 30 days to assemble, resulting in a total output of 12 pieces a year. Each and every watch is embellished by hand and the decoration of the delicate tourbillon bridge alone takes two days for Lange’s specialists. For the manual circular graining process involving the plates and bridges, 14 different tools are used to obtain the desired perlage effects. The result is not only a chef d’oeuvres of mechanical timekeeping, but also a visual work of art.
101 of these masterpieces will be produced, the first 51 will be made in platinum, followed at a later date by a second series of 50 watches in gold.
The attribution of “Pour le Mérite” in the watch name, refers to the order of merit inspired by Alexander von Humboldt and sponsored by King Frederick William IV in 1842 for outstanding, predominantly scientific accomplishments.
Lange’s master watchmakers finally brought the Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” watch to maturity in-house, in keeping with Günter Blümlein’s original concept. The most complex and exclusive wristwatch ever made by A. Lange & Söhne, it is clearly much more than a watch equipped with a tourbillon and certainly more important than just a chronograph. It is fitting therefore, that this remarkable timepiece has been dedicated to one of the watch industry’s most profound visionaries.


Source: December - January 2006 Issue

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