A. Lange & Söhne

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Lange and Sohne 1815 Tourbillon: Chronometric precision and exemplary watchmaking.

[The new Lange 1815 Tourbillon introduced at SIHH 2014. With a second hand stop and zero reset function.]

There is something exceedingly reassuring about Lange watches. You just know that the watch will be ‘just so’. Not just so in the sense that any old watch will do!  No, the reassurance that comes from knowing the Lange watches will be technically excellent, beautifully finished, and traditional in aesthetics and design. 

Glashutte is, as the 1815 date indicates, where they have made watches this way for well over a hundred years; and it is still how Lange watches are manufactured now. The buildings are the same, the place is the same, and the watches for the most part still have the same hallmark signatures.


[The Richard Lange “Pour Le Merite”]

Glashutte, so I was told, was the result of a local government drive to encourage industry in the small mountain town. Originally, the town had grown as a result of a silver mine being established. Some five hundred years ago, silver mining was the established industry. As the mines declined in the nineteenth century, rather than see a town diminish, the Saxony government encouraged new industry to locate there. 

Enter one master watchmaker: Ferdinand Adolph Lange, (who was the son of the Dresden court watchmaker Johan Christian Friedrich Gutkaes), who settled in Glashutte on December 7, 1845 with 15 apprentices and started to produce pocket watches. It is typical of Lange precision that they even know the date of settlement down to the day! 

 Born in 1815, Ferdinand Adolph Lange was only 30 years old when he settled in Glashutte and established the watch manufacture. The town became the centre of watchmaking in Germany and generally as an area of excellence in precision engineering. Now a handful of watchmaking firms have established their manufacture in the town, but historically, and figuratively, the town of Glashutte belongs to Lange.


[The tribute to F. A. Lange at the main entrance to the Lange manufacture]

Since the revival of the Lange watchmaking manufacture in Glashutte just over 20 years ago, the company has gone from the strength to strength. No fanfare to speak of, no special editions that have used the latest version of a colouring software to figure out a limited edition, no sudden sports models. 

 Lange produces aesthetically beautiful, perfectly finished, precisely engineered watches. Looking over the Lange watches, and how they are made, I was reminded of George Daniels saying about hand-made watches: they have to look machine made! The hand manufacture and finishing has to that exact! And Lange watches are just that: they are so exactingly finished by hand that they look machine made, but in fact, they are the result of almost obsessive hand finishing.




[For the finished Lange watch, all parts are polished, whether visible from the display back of the case, or not.]

Although I was visiting Lange to review the new 1815 Tourbillon, with its second hand stop and zero reset function, I was also able to view a number of other aspects about Lange watches and the perfection in their manufacture. Their approach is bordering on the obsessive compulsive (OCD) as a pre-condition for working at Lange. 

 First, the watchmakers test the parts while constructing the movement. The movement is constructed for a first time with ordinary screws. 

 Second, the movement is taken apart, all parts are washed, the German silver finish applied where warranted, and then made again with an experienced watchmaker using blue screws and with final finishing. Tony De Haas explained that the adjustments made on the second movement construction were so small that a machine could not make them; the adjustments can only be undertaken by an experienced watchmaker. The additional work is to ensure that the movement works perfectly. 

 It makes good engineering sense. The first time will test the movement working; the movement is then disassembled and reassembled with final finishing. Depending on the movement, the work involved in the two steps can stretch from a few days to a few weeks. For the second construction of the movement, one watchmaker is responsible for the movement.




[The movement being constructed for the first time. Note that the movement screws are silver finished and not the traditional blue. Blued screws are used in the final stage of the second movement construction]




[A Lange complicated movement. The difference between the incomplete movement and the finished movement: about three weeks of a master watchmakers time.]

Irrespective of the watch, there are certain elements that are common to all Lange watches: the German silver finish on the movement parts and the engraved escapement arm. The German silver finish has nothing to do with the silver mines that were once the reason for the town’s existence; it is a particular type of finish that is particular to German watches. It is applied when constructing the movement for the second time. 

 It is a show of skill and workmanship: the German silver finish is very difficult to work with as it shows all finger marks and scratches. The engraved escapement arm is undertaken by hand by one of six engravers. The engraving can be standard in terms of the escapement arm, or commissioned pieces for a solid watch back. Although to the uneducated eye the engraving all looks the same; the engravers know each other’s work by simply looking the finished engraved pattern. Think of it this way: even If we try to copy handwriting, there are still individual elements to each person’s inscription that would make it individual and recognizable. The engraving is the same.


[The six engravers at Lange with examples of their work]


[A demonstration of the engraving: each engraver has their own tools and their own individual ‘style’]

For the past few years Lange watch development has been under the careful eye of Anthony de Haas. Anthony arrived at Lange via IWC, with time spent with Kurt Klaus, and then Renaud and Papi, where he became a fixture of the “crazy gang” that included such auspicious members as Giulio Papi, Fabrice Deschanel, Robert Greubel, and Stephen Forsey. 

 De Haas has not only the technical knowledge, but he has the right mix of respect for the history and aesthetics of a brand, and a healthy disregard for daft questions from journalists! Tony realizes that Lange has a certain tradition, and although that does not rule out using new materials, it has to be done so within the Lange design and traditional aesthetic.



I for one truly love the 1815 aesthetic. It is a classic design of watch. The numeral and the off-centre second hand, the dimensions of the dial and case make for a near perfect dress watch. For my tastes the rose gold case and the blued hands are a near lethally seductive combination and if I was to chose one version of the watch that would be it.


[The 1815 Tourbillon. Note the spring lever to the top of the aperture with the clear jewel in it. That is the lever stopping the balance wheel]

The 1815 Tourbillon with the second hand stop and zero reset is the result of combining two of Lange’s patents. In designing and developing the 1815 Tourbillon there were a number of problems that had to be over come. The three that were upper most were fitting the tourbillon movement into a case size of similar dimensions with the rest of the 1815 range; stopping the spin of the tourbillon escapement instantaneously (when the crown is pulled out) without causing damage to the mechanism (not as easy as you might think); and also at the same instant, allowing the second hand to jump to zero. The remaining problem is then that instant re-start when the crown is pushed in.


[With the crown pulled out, the spring lever stops the balance wheel and the “zero reset cam” stops the second hand at zero]

Stopping the tourbillon escapement at the moment the crown is pulled out was the initial problem. 

 How to stop the escapement without damaging it? 

The two parts of the problem were the force of the spring and the “brake pad” to apply the stop. Tony de Haas described the various trials as carnage! Initially the springs were too strong and even managed to dislodge the balance wheel! Then there was material for the brake. The steel brake would scratch and cause damage on the balance wheel! In the end, the spring was calibrated to the exact requirement and it was found that a jewel could be used without causing any damage. 

The zero reset comes from a “zero reset cam” that is connected to the seconds hand arbor and stops the second hand (as the name suggests) at zero! Once the crown is pushed in, the spring lever is released, and so is the balance. The watch starts exactly from zero. The benefits to precise time setting are all too obvious. Wait for the time signal to the exact minute and second, depress the crown, and the watch starts running immediately. The most accurate mechanical watch escapement with the ability to set time precisely.


[The back of the 1815 Tourbillon with all the traditional Lange hallmarks: the engraved balance bridge and the three quarter plate]

While A. Lange and Sohne have only been back in business for twenty years, they have nonetheless established an instantly recognizable aesthetic. Lange are expanding their premises to one of the last remaining plots of land available in Glashutte. This is not to scale up production, but simply to provide some space for the current set of watchmakers. Conditions currently are, by Lange’s own admission, a little cosy! 

I was also warned that the watchmakers I would see tend to be on the young side. That is because 20 years ago there was no resident pool of watchmakers to select from and that the watchmakers today have had to be trained in Glashutte. While there is an investment to be made in a steady stream of the human resources necessary to make the watches, it also means that all the watchmakers have been trained from first principals in what Lange expects in the manufacture and finishing of a watch. I might add that only the very senior watchmakers get to assemble the watch second time around. That final Lange watch is truly the sum of all the parts that A. Lange and Sohne have invested in.




[Constructing the 1815 tourbillon cage and balance wheel: it takes a master watchmaker 2 to 3 days to complete just the construction and testing. The watchmaker will work on approximately 10 escapements simultaneously]

Lange and Sohne watches are superlative in both manufacture and in chronometric precision. The 1815 Tourbillon is the latest in that line of thinking. All parts of made and finished to an exacting degree. The very notion of having a tourbillon cage stop, and the second hand reset to zero, and then the restart shows the very intent of the watch is directed towards precision in timekeeping. The finishing is outstanding: the degree of hand finishing is there if you want to take a loupe and examine the intricacy and depth of the finished watch. 

The rose gold version with blued hands and the white dial is exactly how a watch should look to my eyes. Not for everyone of course; some will inexplicably want to choose the platinum cased version. Each to their own! If Lange are looking for any advice on how to potentially improve the 1815 Tourbillon, (which they are not); then a solid white enamel dial would be upper most in my mind. But then, as Tony de Haas pointed out, it would be a pity to cover up such a superlatively finished bridge! He had a point!




[The tourbillon is allowed to spin free of the rest of the movement. Loved the visibility through the aperture. And as Tony De Haas pointed out, the black polished bridge, with the exact change of angles, is something to see: note how the flat parts of the bridge exactly stop at the aperture edge and the diamond angle part takes over.]

Andrew H This message has been edited by 219 on 2014-09-09 22:37:16

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