A. Lange & Söhne
A night at Harrods with A. Lange & Söhne and Bruichladdich whiskey.
Brands in this tier always surprise me. They cannot take watches out of the cases fast enough. It’s almost a will to plant the seed firmly in the mind of anyone who gets over the door.
Nothing was too rare or too fragile. “Here let me help you with the clasp…have a go yourself now, you might need to know!” or “Walk over there under that light, there’s a mirror there, isn’t it brilliant?” were the words from the boutique manager. Not “Careful!” or “I’m sorry madam these are only for display, you see.”
I want a Lange 1 so incredibly badly. I’d probably have it in the platinum, the gold is VERY yellow. Which is great but the thickness would make it a bit much on my wrist. Not long after this event I bought a Baltic MR01, pretty much immediately after an event they held at their London boutique. I can’t pretend the Baltic isn’t my budget stand in for a Lange 1! I love the asymmetrical layout of the dial. It’s such an inventive use of the space and is so easy to read once you adjust to the left/right split: time on the left, complications to the right.
The Odysseus is the model they see the fewest examples of per year. These are highly sought after. Like the high horology brands of the holy trinity (Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet) the most difficult watch to get is their stainless steel sports watch on a bracelet. It is enormous, with protruding, male end links that add a diving board between the lugs. Not for the forearm-challenged. I can appreciate the dial layout though! Lange are probably fairly rated for their movement decoration. They’re underrated for their dials in my opinion. They look beautiful but are also incredibly functional.
Zeitwerk! The mechanical digital watch with jumping numerals. Proof that even the time itself can be told in a creative way. A power reserve and small seconds balance the rest of the dial but the star of the show is the jumping digital display. This is such a cool conversation starter for people not into watches. The assumed differences between “digital/analog” and “mechanical/battery” are flipped on their heads here.
Annoyingly I forgot to get a photo of the 1815 chronograph movement. Safe to say it was incredibly intricate. The boutique manager was able to talk through the different chronographs on offer and demonstrate the fly back mechanism and dataograph for us too.
The boutique itself had a huge Odysseus replica right in the middle of a circular, split-level area. The Lange model towered over the other boutiques, which included Rolex, Audemars Piquet and Vacheron Constantin.
Irish watch enthusiast in London.
Always a great time at Lange!
I fear that none of these watches would fit me well unless you have a child’s wrist that makes the watches look huge.
It’s a little of Column A, a little of Column B.
My wrists have always been very slight! Many said they expected them to wear thinner, not necessarily smaller.
I think this might be where Patek Philippe have things a little more my speed. Even with the larger Calatravas, the proportions work well on slimmer wrists. Patek keeps everything so thin whilst adding more complications. That beats out the advantage on movement finishing for me as a watch to buy!
For me, the Zeitwerk is just amazingly cool. I’ll never own one, unless something dramatic changes in my life, but I love that it exists. Sounds like a very fun evening 👍
I fear that none of these watches would fit me well unless you have a child’s wrist that makes the watches look huge.
Just checked your wrist checks, given that you’re rocking the Hamilton and XL Tank, you’ll make the Lange 1 look the way a 36mm looks on me.
If you have the means, you will definitely have the wrists!
Figures that the boutique with the big Odysseus Chrono would have a small one 🙂