A. Lange & Söhne

Let's have a closer look on the Grand Lange 1 "Lumen" now.

In a few words, I like this watch because it brings something very fresh in Lange world and it has a quite daring design.

Somehow, the Grand Lange 1 "Lumen" is a logical watch but yet surprising.

The new Grand Lange 1 was presented at the beginning of the year during the SIHH. Its main features were the dial balance which kept the original lay-out of the Lange 1 and its slenderness. These characteristics were achieved thanks to the use of a new movement, the L095.1 which is larger than the previous movement used in the former Grand Lange 1 (actually, the same used in the Lange 1). The diameter of the movement allowed to get the specific Lange 1 dial lay-out with a bigger case (40,9mm vs 38,5mm for the Lange 1). As you know, the new Grand Lange is a bit smaller than the previous one (41,9mm).





The larger size of the Grand Lange 1 is a strong asset for this kind of "Lumen" watch which plays the light. Moreover, the Big Date display of the Grand Lange 1 is the largest of the collection: don't forget that to preserve the dial balance, this Big Date display was enlarged to have the same proportion than the other elements of the dial.

And last reason is the case slenderness. The slender case allows to use the semi transparent sapphire crystal parts for the dial because these dial make it thicker. With another case, the watch would have become too thick. The Grand Lange 1 "Lumen" has a 9,8mm case thickness which is 1mm over the original case but still below 10mm: the harmony of the watch is preserved.


The last point which makes me think that the watch is logical is obviously the warm welcome received by the Zeitwerk Luminous: I was sure that this system, these semi-transparent sapphire crystal which let the UV radiation go through (they work opposite to sunglasses) would be used again in another context.

So if the watch is so logical, is it still surprising? And the answer is yes. The watch surprised me a lot in a very positive way.


Honestly, we may have some fears. Touching an icon is always very difficult. The Zeitwerk, even if it has become perhaps the Lange flag bearer now is a "new" watch in the collection. But the Lange 1 with this very balanced dial was introduced in 1994. It symbolizes the elegance, the classicism "with the Lange style", ie with a subtle touch of originality brought by the off-centered time display.
Is it not too dangerous to propose this kind of display in such context? I would say no.

First of all, I'm happy to see Lange with a more daring attitude: I often thought that there were too many silver dials in the collection so for me, it would be a bad idea to complain when they propose something different.

Secondly, this dial, made of mix of blackened silver for the time display parts and of semi-transparent sapphire crystal elements works very well with the Grand Lange 1 design.

The watch as a whole remains elegant but this time with a very contemporary and technical design. The new ability to see the date display system parts, the different figures, the plate dial side is a nice idea. Time legibility was preserved.

The dial has now a bigger feeling of depth even if there is no real applied elements on the dial. Some indications like power reserve display seem to float which is quite nice. Even if the visible perlage brings something different, the most interesting thing to observe is the gathering of figures on the right side of the watch due to the Big Date system. Due to the way the Big Date display works on a Lange watch, creating a luminescent date was not an easy task due to the overlap between the tens cross and the units disk.

Actually, in the Grand Lange 1 "Lumen", they were not done the same way. First of all, the tens cross was redesign to reduce the overlap. Secondly, the tens cross was treated with white luminous compound with black numerals on it. But the units disk is different: it is a transparent glass with black numerals which rotates in front of a luminous background. Thanks to this trick, when the date changes, both figures are already legible in the dark.

I was seduced by this dial which gave a new energy to the Grand Lange 1: at the same time daring and quite elegant, I was much more convinced by it than by the classic "luminous" dials of the Lange 1 or Grand Lange 1. This one is more subtle, more technical.

Movement is the L095.2 and bridges side, 100% similar to the L095.1 of the Grand Lange 1. There is nothing to add except that we still have the same pleasure to observe it.

On the wrist, the most interesting point to observe is the way the dial changes with the light conditions. Sometimes, it looks very dark. Sometimes, very grey. The coating of the sapphire crystal is for me, different to the Zeitwerk one. With the Zeitwerk, the colours range was between chocolate and deep black. Here we have a range from blue-grey to black. The feeling is a bit different even if sometimes, they may seem to be very similar in terms of colours.

Zeitwerk Luminous:








The Grand Lange 1 "Lumen" due to its busier and darker dial looks smaller than the Grand Lange 1: the 40,9mm diameter is easily worn and the watch doesn't look huge on the wrist which is a good point.


The way the dial changes with the light conditions:







In conclusion, I was very seduced by this watch. It doesn't bring anything new in terms of horological contents when compared with the Grand Lange 1 of the beginning of the year. But its more daring and more technical design gives a new dimension to this watch which is a very positive point.

The Grand Lange 1 "Lumen" features a platinum case and will be available in a LE of 200 pieces.

More posts: Grand Lange 1Lange 1Zeitwerk

  login to reply