A. Lange & Söhne: 1815 Homage to Walter Lange

In honour of company founder Walter Lange, who passed away in January 2017, A.Lange & Söhne presents the 1815 Homage to Walter Lange.

The 1815 Homage to Walter Lange is a unique piece as the man whose name it bears. The classic dial, reduced to the essence, is completed by one of his favorite complications, the jumping seconds.

This complication represents the essence of precision watchmaking and at the same time part of the family history. The idea dates back to an invention by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in 1867 and develloped later in a pocket watch by his son Richard in 1877.

The jumping seconds function does’t divide the second into a number of steps depending on the balance frequency, but instead treats it as a coherent unit of time. A pusher at 2 o’clock starts and stops the sweep seconds hand.

The 1815 Homage to Walter Lange is a one-off piece endowed with a black enamel dial that, with the traditional railway-track minute scale and the polished hands, is inspired by the design of historic pocket watches. The newly developed movement has a special calibre designation: L1924. It refers to Walter Lange’s birth year. Additionally, the first three digits of the reference number 297.078 recall his date of birth, 29 July.

The 40.5 mm case is made of stainless steel, a material that at A. Lange & Söhne has been reserved for only a very few exclusive and special timepieces. As well as this one-off watch, limited editions in yellow “27 pieces”, white “145 pieces” and pink gold “90 pieces” will also be available (Price €.47.000).

The steel version will be auctioned off for a charitable purpose in 2018. Walter Lange, always noted for his philanthropy, would have approved.