A. Lange & Sohne luxury wacthes :
A. Lange & Söhne is a trademark of premier German watchmaking company Lange Uhren GmbH. Its watches rank among the finest in the world and sell in the same general price range as watches made by such top-tier Swiss firms as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.
FERDINAND A. LANGE – THE JOURNEY TO GLASHÜTTE.
Ferdinand A. Lange was born in Dresden on 18 February 1815. His father was a gunsmith and described as a “man of course character”. After young Lange’s parents separated, he was brought up by an acquainted merchant’s family. His surrogate family enabled him to attend the Technical Institute of Education in Dresden, where he received training at a level then generally reserved for engineers and technicians.
While he was studying, Ferdinand A. Lange began an apprenticeship with Gutkaes, the renowned master clockmaker. He quickly recog-nised 15-year-old Lange’s horological talent and encouraged the young man who had impressed him with his craftsmanship skills, diligence, and intelligence.
On 7 December 1845, Ferdinand A. Lange established the first production facility for pocket watches in Glashütte and began to train 15 young people from the impoverished region with the aim of turning them into accomplished watchmakers. This courageous step was preceded by long negotiations with the government of Saxony which he had asked to support his venture. Finally, he was granted a repayable loan of 7820 thalers.
More recently, on March 15, 2007, the company unveiled the culmination of a multi-year effort to produce the first wearable mechanical watch with a 31-day power reserve: that is, a watch that need be wound only once per month (with a special key). To guarantee the power reserve for a month, the brand's watchmakers used two stacked mainspring barrels that store the required energy. The big-sized barrels made it necessary to apply two mainsprings that are 5-10 times longer than those found in other wristwatch movements. At this point, Lange specialists faced a serious problem - a common winding crown train was not suitable for winding such strong mainsprings. To solve that problem, the watchmakers used the 'key technology' of A. Lange & Söhne pocket watches. Some Lange admirers lauded these technological achievements, while others expressed skepticism that there would be a significant market for this very large (46 mm wide by 16 mm deep) and expensive (almost $180,000) platinum-cased watch.
Lange watches tend to have a highly distinctive appearance. For example, the iconic 38.5 mm "Lange 1" model features an asymmetric layout with no overlap among its key components: a dial containing the hour and minute hands, a smaller dial containing the second hand, a double window containing oversized digits for the date, and an "ab auf" meter registering the degree of wind left in the watch. Lange's watches are often described as more "austere" or "Teutonic" in appearance than comparable watches produced by Patek Philippe and similar Swiss firms. Finally, Lange watches typically feature a "display back" : a transparent surface on the back of the watch that permits views of the timekeeping mechanism at work.
A. Lange & Söhne is a trademark of premier German watchmaking company Lange Uhren GmbH. Its watches rank among the finest in the world and sell in the same general price range as watches made by such top-tier Swiss firms as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.FERDINAND A. LANGE – THE JOURNEY TO GLASHÜTTE.
Ferdinand A. Lange was born in Dresden on 18 February 1815. His father was a gunsmith and described as a “man of course character”. After young Lange’s parents separated, he was brought up by an acquainted merchant’s family. His surrogate family enabled him to attend the Technical Institute of Education in Dresden, where he received training at a level then generally reserved for engineers and technicians.
While he was studying, Ferdinand A. Lange began an apprenticeship with Gutkaes, the renowned master clockmaker. He quickly recog-nised 15-year-old Lange’s horological talent and encouraged the young man who had impressed him with his craftsmanship skills, diligence, and intelligence.
On 7 December 1845, Ferdinand A. Lange established the first production facility for pocket watches in Glashütte and began to train 15 young people from the impoverished region with the aim of turning them into accomplished watchmakers. This courageous step was preceded by long negotiations with the government of Saxony which he had asked to support his venture. Finally, he was granted a repayable loan of 7820 thalers.
More recently, on March 15, 2007, the company unveiled the culmination of a multi-year effort to produce the first wearable mechanical watch with a 31-day power reserve: that is, a watch that need be wound only once per month (with a special key). To guarantee the power reserve for a month, the brand's watchmakers used two stacked mainspring barrels that store the required energy. The big-sized barrels made it necessary to apply two mainsprings that are 5-10 times longer than those found in other wristwatch movements. At this point, Lange specialists faced a serious problem - a common winding crown train was not suitable for winding such strong mainsprings. To solve that problem, the watchmakers used the 'key technology' of A. Lange & Söhne pocket watches. Some Lange admirers lauded these technological achievements, while others expressed skepticism that there would be a significant market for this very large (46 mm wide by 16 mm deep) and expensive (almost $180,000) platinum-cased watch.
Lange watches tend to have a highly distinctive appearance. For example, the iconic 38.5 mm "Lange 1" model features an asymmetric layout with no overlap among its key components: a dial containing the hour and minute hands, a smaller dial containing the second hand, a double window containing oversized digits for the date, and an "ab auf" meter registering the degree of wind left in the watch. Lange's watches are often described as more "austere" or "Teutonic" in appearance than comparable watches produced by Patek Philippe and similar Swiss firms. Finally, Lange watches typically feature a "display back" : a transparent surface on the back of the watch that permits views of the timekeeping mechanism at work.
