The launch of the LANGE 1 ten years ago, on 24 October 1994, marked the start of the second success story of the traditional Saxon company Lange – and the comeback of German precision watchmaking.

Without any doubt, this watch made horological history and gave new prestige to the “Made in Germany” label. Prizes and awards were literally heaped on it, and not without reason: it has collected 16 awards in the ten years since its world premiere in 1994 in Dresden's palace.

Its very name is a programme: LANGE 1. Together with three other new watch models (LANGE-TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite”, SAXONIA and ARKADE) it was the flagship with which the traditional Saxon watchmaking company Lange in the town of Glashütte set out on 24 October ten years ago to conquer the world for the second time. Ever since then, more than any other watch, the LANGE 1 has symbolised something that no-one had dared to define for 50 years: a luxury watch from Germany. It is the most German of all prestige watches, and from 1990 onwards, that was the intention that shaped its development.





The LANGE 1 was and is the company's best-selling watch and is frequently called the “visiting card” of A. Lange & Söhne. However, this is only half the story. In addition to its impressive appearance it is also the ideal within the company and the impetus behind every new horological creation. In a certain sense, it fulfils the promise made in 1994 by Walter Lange, great-grandson of the company founder Adolph Lange, when he proclaimed: “We intend once again to make the best watches in the world.”

The LANGE 1 was designed to be different from any other mechanical watch up to that time. In the broad wake of the mechanical luxury watch segment – dominated at that time exclusively by Swiss brand names – it would have been well-nigh impossible to make a successful top name out of the Lange legend, and to turn the old location of Glashütte once again into the centre of fine German watchmaking. During the four years of its development, the LANGE 1 was given characteristics and qualities that had been lost in the field of watchmaking, or which had been sacrificed in the interest of efficient manufacture. Characteristics such as the Glashütte three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver, gold chatons held by blued steel screws, the hand-engraved balance cock with whiplash precision index adjuster, the glucydur screw balance, or the traditional Glashütte decoration of the movement. All this plus a large number of technical innovation, such as the twin mainspring barrels with over 72 hours power reserve and a patented outsize date, which has in the meantime opened the eyes of the whole industry to the beauty of this formerly neglected display item.

All of this, as well as the highly unusual decentralised design of the dial with a clear, harmonious distribution of all the display figures, has contributed to make the LANGE 1 – in the face of the fiercest competition – a credible successor to the old Lange traditions, and capable of a successful comeback. Such a strongly individual watch also maintained its unique, inimitable personality in spite of new dial variations, the integration of a beautifully crafted tourbillon or the addition of an indicator showing the phases of the moon. There is no doubt that the LANGE 1 occupies a very special position in the extremely handsome collection by the traditional manufacturer from Saxony, which ranges from the purist Lange “1815” to the recently presented world-first LANGE DOUBLE SPLIT with a double rattrapante.

And so the legend that saw time come home has itself matured into something of a watch legend: in the form of the LANGE 1.


Data sheet LANGE 1


Movement: Lange manufacture calibre L901.0, manually wound, crafted, assembled, and decorated almost entirely by hand to the highest Lange quality standards; precision-adjusted in five positions; twin mainspring barrels; patented outsize date; power-reserve indicator; plates and bridges made of untreated cross-laminated German silver; balance cock engraved by hand

Number of parts: 365

Frequency:21,600 semi-oscillations per hour

Jewels: 53

Screwed gold chatons:9

Escapement: Lever escapement

Balance:Shock-proofed Glucydur screw balance, Nivarox balance spring, patented micrometer-screw index adjuster with whiplash spring

Power reserve:More than 72 hours when fully wound

Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds with stop seconds, patented outsize date, power-reserve indicator

Operating elements: Crown for winding the movement and setting the time, push-piece for switching the outsize date

Case: Diameter 38,5 millimetres, 18-carat yellow, white or pink gold or platinum

Glass and caseback:Sapphire crystal (hardness 9)

Dial:Solid silver in champagne, argenté, rhodié, black or grey; gold appliques

Hands:Blued steel, gold or rhodiumed gold

Water resistance: 30 metres

Strap: Hand-stitched crocodile strap with precious-metal Lange prong buckle in gold or platinum




Source: Lange Uhren GmbH Press Release

www.lange-soehne.com
Contact: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

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