The perpetual calendar reconceived: the new A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar

Watches & Wonders 2021: The new LANGE 1 PERPETUAL CALENDAR is totally focused on the eponymous watch complication.

Once properly set, the mechanism of A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar watch is programmed to reliably
indicate each month change until the year 2100.

The materials, the architecture, and the artisanal finissage confirm that in terms of unique design and mechanical
perfection, this watch is perpetual in every respect.

Dresden watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange laid the cornerstone of Saxony’s precision watchmaking industry when he established his manufactory in 1845. His precious pocket watches remain highly coveted among collectors all over the world. The company was expropriated after World War II, and the name A. Lange & Söhne nearly vanished. In 1990, Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s great-grandson Walter Lange had the courage to relaunch the brand. Today, Lange crafts only a few thousand wristwatches per year, predominantly in gold or platinum. They are endowed exclusively with proprietary movements that are lavishly decorated by hand and assembled twice. With 67 manufacture calibres developed since 1990, A. Lange & Söhne has secured a top-tier position in the world of watchmaking. Brand icons such as the LANGE 1 with the first outsize date in a regularly produced wristwatch, and the ZEITWERK with its precisely jumping numerals display, rank among the company’s greatest successes.

Perpetual Calendar integration into the prominent dial layout of A. Lange & Söhne’s LANGE 1 was made possible
thanks to a peripheral month ring created especially for this design. The new luxury timepiece comes in pink gold with a grey-silver dial or – in a limited edition of 150 watches – in white gold with a solid pink-gold dial. The moon-phase display with an integrated day/night indicator is a further special feature.

Exactly 20 years ago, A. Lange & Söhne presented the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL, its first wristwatch with a perpetual calendar. It was followed by seven further models, mostly in combination with other complications such as a chronograph, a tourbillon or both.

Apart from the classic principle with calendar displays controlled by a 48-step cam, the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON
PERPETUAL CALENDAR introduced in 2012 already took a different approach that has now been adopted by the new model. To integrate the calendar ensemble into the exceptional off-centre dial architecture of the LANGE 1 without compromising the harmonious balance of the displays, the month indication was implemented with a ring at the periphery of the dial that advances once a month. This design replaces the classic control principle with a 48-step cam. The innovation challenged the ingenuity of Lange’s engineers because advancing the ring at the end of the month requires considerably more power than traditional solutions.

The ring-shaped month display is complemented with the Lange outsize date, a retrograde day of-week display, and a leap-year indication. The instantaneously advancing calendar displays are always crisply legible. They can be advanced collectively or individually with correctors.

The self-winding movement L021.3 is A. Lange & Söhne’s 67th manufacture calibre. It is based on the calibre L021.1 of the LANGE 1 DAYMATIC and has been endowed with a newly developed winding mechanism.

Moon phase with day/night indicator

The perpetual calendar is the central complication of the LANGE 1 PERPETUAL CALENDAR, but not the only one. The watch additionally features a moon-phase display with an integrated day/night indicator.

The combination of the moon-phase display with a day/night indicator has two layers. It consists of a solid-gold celestial disc with a blue gradation. It completes one full revolution about its own axis every 24 hours. Against this background, the moon – either in white or pink gold – performs its synodic orbit in 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and three seconds with such precision that it takes 122.6 years before a correction by one day is needed. With the 2016 debut of the combined display in the LANGE 1 MOON PHASE, the moon appears on a monochrome light blue canopy during the day and on a dark blue starry sky at night.

Many of Lange’s quality hallmarks can be admired through the sapphire-crystal caseback: the plates and bridges made of untreated German silver and decorated with Glashütte ribbing, five gold chatons secured with thermally blued steel screws, and the hand-engraved balance cock with the superposed whiplash spring used for beat adjustments. As always, the parts of the movement, which is assembled twice, are manually finished to the strictest Lange standards.

A. Lange & Söhne novelties for 2021 unveiled during Watches & Wonders 2021 include LITTLE LANGE 1 MOON PHASE and TRIPLE SPLIT watches.

The fascination of a bright moonlit night is the motif of the new LITTLE LANGE 1 MOON PHASE. Its eye-catcher is the solid-silver dial coated with shimmering dark-blue gold flux; the sparkling copper particles evoke a starry nocturnal sky.

The applied Roman numerals at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock as well as the star-shaped hour markers between them are
crafted from rhodiumed gold just like the hands. The dark hue of the dial is echoed by the outsize date and the white-gold lunar disc with its 628 stars. A dark-blue, shiny leather strap with sparkling pigments and a solid white-gold buckle complement the elegant appearance of the watch. In the second version, 56 brilliant-cut diamonds adorn the bezel of the white-gold case with a diameter of 36.8 millimetres.

When A. Lange & Söhne presented the TRIPLE SPLIT in 2018, it was lauded as a global premiere by the international trade press. The only split-seconds chronograph in the world to date that can measure additive and comparative times for as long as twelve hours is in a league of its own. Now, it is followed by a model with a pink-gold case and a blue dial.