Last week, A. Lange & Söhne celebrated the 20th anniversary of their most iconic timepiece by unveiling a special 20 piece limited edition Lange 1. The Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst, is distinguished by a platinum case measuring 38.5 by 10.2 mm, a black enamel dial, and a one-minute tourbillon aperture visible at the lower portion of the dial.
On the dial side, the tourbillon cock (bridge) is in steel and features a specular-polished finish, as well as a diamond endstone (a Lange signature on tourbillons). On the movement side, intermediate wheel and crown-wheel cocks as well as tourbillon bridge on the movement side in German silver, engraved by hand. The contour of the aperture for the tourbillon has meticulously polished chamfers.
The Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkkunst has the brand’s patented stop-seconds mechanism, which was first released in 2008. According to Lange, “A. Lange & Söhne’s product developers succeeded for the first time in reliably immobilising the balance wheel inside the rotating tourbillon cage. Finally, timepieces with tourbillons could be stopped and set with one-second accuracy.”
The hand wound Lange caliber L961.3 has 378 components (51 jewels, 2 diamond endstones, 7 screwed gold chatons). The screw balance is shock resistant, and the spring is made in-house. The movement beats at 3Hz and has a 72-hour power reserve. It is decorated by hand, precision adjusted in 5 positions and has a three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver.
The main dial is white gold with a black enamel treatment. The black solid-silver subsidiary dial for the seconds is slightly recessed into the main dial. The hour markers are mirror-polished, to match the white gold rhodium hands, which contrast the shiny black dial. The numerals of the Lange outsize date are grey on a black background. The power reserve is indicated by a white gold rhodium hand, with a AUF/AP (Up/Down) scale, between 2 and 4 o’clock.
The crown winds the watch and sets the time. The flat push-piece on the case flank at 10 o’clock allows for rapid correction of the outsize date (patented).
The Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst is paired with a black hand-stitched crocodile strap, with a Lange deployant clasp in platinum. Limited to 20 timepieces. (Ref. 704.048F)
