Thinking about getting a limited edition A. Lange & Söhne watch? How about this stunning piece?

I’ll say this straight up—it’s not difficult to fall in love with Lange. When I first started writing about watches years ago, A. Lange & Söhne was just a name I couldn’t pronounce, with a cold, German, get-stuff-done vibe (I’m imagining Lange fans recoiling in horror now). But as I delved deeper into the brand (more here), I began to appreciate their tenacity, aesthetic, and precise movements. Of course, I also happen to work with a Lange fan so that clearly accelerated the sentiment.  

There are many things to love about Lange but most aficionados will say it’s the Lange 1. When it was introduced as part of the first four timepieces of the resurrected brand in 1994, the Lange 1 was quickly elevated to cult status. Beautifully thought out, its asymmetrical dial design bears the famous ‘golden ratio’—what mathematicians consider the perfect balance of harmony and beauty. In a nod to history, the iconic outsize date references the Five-Minute Clock of Dresden’s Semper Opera House.

 

Launched in 2005, the Lange 1 Time Zone continues to be one of the most popular models in the collection. Featuring a second time zone with 24 city names, the watch is a handy companion for the chronic jet-setter. One pusher rotates the city ring counter-clockwise while the other advances the hour hand on the subsidiary dial.

The star feature of this limited edition is undoubtedly the new honey gold case. Exclusive to Lange, honey gold is harder than other types of gold and therefore very difficult to work with. The engravers even had to use special tools to decorate the balance cock. The alloy composition itself is a trade secret and they would only reveal that small quantities of zinc and copper are added to the mix.

Other updates to the classic Time Zone include the use of blue dots (instead of the usual red) to separate city names, and replacing Berlin with Dresden to represent Central European Time. The movement inside is the hand-finished manufacture calibre L031.1—assembled twice—with a power reserve of three days. Limited to just 100 pieces in the 17 A. Lange & Söhne boutiques worldwide, this is one for the collectors. 

Case	41.9mm in honey gold
Dial	Solid silver, argenté, with appliques in honey gold
Movement	Manual-winding Lange manufacture calibre L031.1
Strap	Hand-stitched dark brown alligator leather
Functions	Home time with day/night indicator (hours, minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds), zone time (hours, minutes) with day/night indicator and city ring, outsize date for home time, up/down power reserve indicator
Power reserve	72 hours
Price	S$84,200