A. Lange & Söhne

Salon de Greef: Lange & Söhne

 

Just at the beginning of the month of June, I travelled to Brussels to attend the Salon de Greef in the Sablon district at the Nonciature, an old building renovated to host events.

De Greef is a famous belgian AD whose boutique is located a few meters from the Grand Place. But the Salon was located in other district, famous for its antique dealers.

Lange is one of the brands sold by De Greef so I was very happy to get this opportunity to see again the 2012 novelties. I have to confess that I am quite fortunate this year because it was the third time I could handle this new collection.

I propose you to browse them, just to remind you that it was a solid collection, maybe not that surprising but with some significant improvements.

Let's start with the scenery:

The Nonciature is a very classy place, very comfortable for the visitors but the light conditions were far from being perfect:

The Lange One display, the iconic watch from Lange became a true collection on its own:

The Lange 1 Tourbillon PC, I was very surprised to see it! But sadly, it was housing a fake movement. We could at least enjoy the dial lay-out:

Jacques Thomas, Lange Western Europe, is explaining to visitors why Lange watches are so special.

The Lange exhibition:














Let's have a closer look to the novelties.

The Lange 1 Tourbillon PC. It is the first Lange with a hidden Tourbillon. It takes advantage of the Lange 1 dial lay-out to propose a different way to display the PC data. The special feature is the month ring which requires an unusual energy consumption system.

My fav novelty is maybe the new Grand Lange 1. Of course it has a balanced dial. But I also like its slenderness and the new movement (a single barrel one!). a very elegant watch which also begs the question of the future of the "classic" Lange 1.

We wrote so many lines about the Datograph Up and Down... so what can I say that I haven't previously written? Maybe just that I like it more and more each time I see it. The power reserve indicator finds its place on the dial, the enlarged date display preserves the harmony of the original Datograph and the enlarged case diameter softens the overall design. Even if the original Datograph remains my favorite, this evolution is a successful one. It is almost an impossible mission to touch an icon and Lange managed to do it.

The WG Saxonia Thin is a story of a missed opportunity. Why Lange took the decision to put again this silver dial? The watch is at the same time elegant... and boring. Let's imagine the same watch with a black or blue dial with subtle shades and you get an amazing watch. Here it is just fine.

The case diameter is the max acceptable due to the movement size:

The indexes are maybe the main asset of the Saxonia Thin:

You will notice that the new WG Timezone was not present in Brussels but some models of the current collection completed the large range of available watches.

Let's take this 1815 chronograph for example. When it was unveiled, I was not convinced by it: I found the dial too pure... prefering the busy dial of the previous version. But I start to understand the objective behind and the aesthetical approach.

Always the top quality chronograph movement from Lange. The  new 1815 chronograph was the first one with an increased power reserve.

A perfect combo with the shirt!

I'm not a fan of the Daymatic... I only consider the Lange 1 with a handwind movement except the PC Tourbillon version: the PC complication requires, in my point of view an automatic movement. The good point about the Daymatic is the dial lay-out which puts the time display on the right side, good news for the people like me who wear the watches on their left wrists.But well, this is not enough to seduce me.

I told you that the WG Timezone was missing... but the Lange 1 with the same colours atmosphere made the trip to Brussels!

The Night Owls is a nice watch even if i find it a bit too cold. In this context, I find the use of these colours more efficient with the Timezone.

The Saxonia Dual Time is what I call a business watch: practical, useful. Is it charming? Well, I will answer by saying you that it is not on the top of the list of my fav Lange watches.

I'm in love with the Richard Lange especially the Platinum version... the second hand is hypnotizing.

But the new 1815 is also a great watch. The WG version features the combo silver dial, blued hands which was available with the Platinum version and not the WG ones before (if we only stay with the neutral materials):

And the two 3 hands watches together:

I finish my report with these two 3 hands watches after having started with the Lange One PC Tourbillon. Two sides of the collection but the same care of details, the same exigence and excellence. I don't have any doubt about the quality of these novelties. The question is more about the way to seduce a guy like me who already owns several Lange but who doesn't have deep pockets to reach the complicated timepieces. I still face the same trouble: I would love to see an entry level watch with enough spice to make it attractive. It is the reason why I was frustrated by the Saxonia Thin. A more daring attitude and I would have taken the plunge.

Anyway, it is always a pleasure for me to meet the Lange team. The feeling to be a part of the Lange family as a Lange owner is very important for me.

I would like to thank a lot the De Greef team for the great organization of the event and of course Lucia and Jacques for the time they spent with me.

Fx


This message has been edited by foversta on 2012-06-21 14:23:09

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