The LANGE 1 Turns 15
The LANGE 1 Turns 15
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The LANGE 1, in the centre is surrounded, clockwise from top left, by: the LANGE 1 MOONPHASE, LANGE 1 TIME ZONE, GRAND LANGE 1, LANGE 1 TOURBILLON.
About the ascent of an impressive watch family
Since it premiered in October 1994, the LANGE 1 has been “the face” of A. Lange & Söhne. With its striking dial design and its patented outsize date – the first truly legible date display ever to grace a wristwatch – it gained global fame virtually overnight and garnered a host of product awards. Today, the LANGE 1 symbolises Lange watchmaking artistry. It embodies the skills and know-how of an entire watchmaking dynasty that was founded by Ferdinand Adolph Lange almost 165 years ago. At the same time it represents the performance of the master watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne as well as their tireless quest for the perfect timepiece.
With its novel language of form, the LANGE 1 pays tribute to the courage and the innovative energy of the Saxon manufactory, but its balanced design is the hallmark of a timeless classic. This is also the reason why the LANGE 1 remained unchanged for 15 years, and thus established its very own tradition. Now, with the GRAND LANGE 1, the LANGE 1 MOONPHASE, the LANGE 1 TIME ZONE, and the LITTLE LANGE 1 “Soirée” it is not only embedded in its own family, but it also constitutes the underlying design philosophy for future watch models. The following pages present the key milestones in the 15-year history of the acclaimed collection.
A legend springs back to life
With its compelling and inimitable personality, the LANGE 1 not only wrote a decisive chapter in the history of watches. It is also the benchmark for every new watch created by A. Lange & Söhne. After all, since it had its debut in 1994, it has preserved its status as the archetypal timepiece. Its design epitomises the ideals handed down across generations, including the ambition “to craft the world’s finest watches”, a mission statement formulated by the manufactory’s founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange in 1845. Beyond that, the LANGE 1 symbolises the entrepreneurial courage of his great-grandson Walter Lange who shared a vision with his business partner Günter Blümlein: to put Germany back on the map of the luxury timepiece segment with a bold opus.
Featuring a polarising yet utterly balanced dial design, the LANGE 1 is the physical manifestation of a brave and remarkably successful foray into uncharted territory. With its innovative technical hallmarks such as the patented outsize date display and the twin mainspring barrels for a power reserve of three days, it proved to be a worthy successor of earlier masterpieces crafted by A. Lange & Söhne. Additionally, it embodied quality assets that by then had practically disappeared from the domain of mechanical watchmaking. The LANGE 1 single-handedly established a second home base for precision horology outside the Swiss Confederation.