A. Lange & Sӧhne’s Summer Reveals: A new Lange 1 Time Zone and a Limited-Edition 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar

A. Lange & Sӧhne’s new launches for the summer include two special timepieces: a platinum Lange 1 Time Zone and a new 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar, cased in 18 ct white gold with a pink gold dial.

GMT India takes a closer look at the two models.

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Lange 1 Time Zone

The Lange 1 Time Zone, first launched in 2005, allowed the wearer to keep track of home time and of the time in 24 different zones across the world. In 2020, when the second generation surfaced, the model was equipped with the new manufacture calibre L141.1 that featured an intuitive indication of daylight-saving time, thus further boosting the functionality of the watch. With this latest offering — the Lange 1 Time Zone in a 950 platinum case with a rhodium-coloured dial made of solid silver —  A. Lange & Sӧhne combines sophisticated micromechanical engineering with a timeless design. 

Simple yet ingenious

The ring with the 24 reference cities on the periphery pairs harmoniously with the distinctive, off-centre dial design that’s typical to the Lange 1 family. All displays — home time and zone time, the date and the power-reserve indicator — are clearly visible. The larger time circle indicates home time; the time in the second time zone appears in the smaller time circle. On actuating the corrector button at 8 o’clock, the city ring switches in the easterly direction by one time zone. Simultaneously, in the small subsidiary dial, the hour hand moves by one hour and indicates the zone time of the specific city and the corresponding time zone at which the arrow marker points. The indication of daylight-saving time functions as follows: a colour segment in the arrow indicates whether the selected city and the time zone implement daylight-saving time. If this is indeed the case, the small aperture is filled in red. The background remains unchanged if only standard time is observed all year round.

To be able to distinguish between day and night in both time zones, the Lange 1 Time Zone makes use of coloured, ring-shaped day/night indicators linked to the hour hands. If the hour hand is in the dial-coloured area, the display refers to the interval between 6 am and 6 pm; when the background appears blue, it implies the time between 6 pm and 6 am.

The model comes with a special synchronisation mechanism that facilitates the transferring of time zones from the smaller dial to the larger one, allowing the wearer to define a new main time as home time. This can be implemented when the crown is pulled in the second position; the times of both zones can then be adjusted. Since it may be necessary to also correct the date that is connected with the main time, there’s a date correction button at 10 o’clock.

Measuring 41.9 mm x 10.9 mm, the new Lange 1 Time Zone is powered by the manufacture calibre L141.1 that offers a power reserve of 72 hours. The movement includes Lange-typical quality hallmarks such as three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver, screwed gold chatons, blued screws and an intermediate-wheel cock, all visible through the sapphire crystal caseback.

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1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar

2023 marks ten years of the first 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar and to commemorate the occasion, A. Lange & Sӧhne has unveiled a pink-dialled, 18 ct white gold limited edition. The watch unites highly elaborate complications while maintaining the classic elegance of the 1815 line.

A celebration of a classic

At the heart of the new 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar is the same movement from the last decade: the hand-wound L101.1. In addition to the conventional functions of a chronograph, the rattrapante complication is also capable of measuring intermediate times and comparative times as well as determining minimum and maximum values in the course of one minute. Since the balance wheel of the manufacture calibre L101.1 beats with six semi-oscillations per second, the stopped times can be recorded with an accuracy of one-sixth of a second, allowing for readings that are highly precise. The movement architecture can be admired via the sapphire crystal caseback.

The manifold displays of the perpetual calendar and the rattrapante chronograph bring to mind the classic aesthetics of earlier Lange pocket watches. At 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock are the two pairs of combined calendar indications. The left subsidiary dial displays the date and day of the week, and the one on the right indicates the month and leap year. The moonphase display, which shares an auxiliary dial with the subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock, adds a nice spot of colour to the dial. At 12 o’clock is the minute counter and power-reserve indicator. The shorter gold hand in the inner circle reveals when it is time to deliver new power to the movement via the winding crown. The longer, blued steel hand shares information about the stopped minutes.

In terms of aesthetics, this new 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar is the third A. Lange & Sӧhne model that sports an 18 ct pink-gold dial. Earlier models with the same coloured dials were the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon from 2019 and 2021’s Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar.

At 41.9 mm x 14.7 mm, the dimensions of the A. Lange & Sӧhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar remain unchanged. In addition to this variant, which comes in a limited edition of 100 pieces, the model is also available in a platinum/argenté and pink-gold/argenté case/dial combination.

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