For 2013 one of the limited edition A. Lange & Sohne watches will be this neat looking and very high-end Grand Lange 1 Lumen timepiece. The piece is a mix of a few ideas that Lange has offered over the years. While typically very heavy on the “look what cool new stuff we developed,” language, German A. Lange & Sohne is much more straight-forward in how they discuss this watch. In fact, while this piece will sell rather well, it is a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of Lange using ideas from a few past watches together without anything really new. It is a great watch, but it does lack that “wow” factor Lange is usually able to deliver with their new products. I will however say that what is new, is very useful.
The Grand Lange 1 was re-done for 2012 and covered hands-on here. It is a larger version of the 38.5mm Lange 1, and a smaller version of the older Grand Lange 1. The new version is about 41mm wide and is one of A. Lange & Sohne’s best pieces. You know what it lacks though? Luminant. In fact, most Lange watches aren’t useful for darkness viewing. The rarity of lume on Lange watches make you feel as though the compound is made from fairy dust.
A few years ago A. Lange & Sohne released the Grande Lange 1 Luminous watch. It has the old Grand Lange 1 case with a black dial… and lume on the hands and some markers. Now with there being a new Grand Lange 1, the brand needs an update. Rather than build the same thing, they took inspiration from the very cool Zeitwerk Luminous – which was also a limited edition. Given that the Zeitwerk had discs versus hands, A. Lange & Sohne designed a transparent dial that allowed light to enter to charge the lume. This meant the hidden sections of the dial wold get charged and thus glow when they displayed.
That same concept is here in the Grand Lange On Lumen – though for the “out-size” (big) date indicator. Now you can see the date even in the dark! The rest of the hands and hour markers have more traditional lume on them. The piece is very practical in terms of the dial, and also pretty. Though with an all-platinum case and limited edition production of 100 pieces, I don’t know if people are going to consider this their new daily sport watch. Inside is an in-house made A. Lange & Sohne caliber L095.2 manually wound movement. The best part is really the smoked crystal over the dial with a brief view of the beautiful movement.
Tech Specs from A. Lange & Sohne:
GRAND LANGE 1 “Lumen” Ref. 117.035
Movement: Lange manufacture calibre L095.2, manually wound, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; plates and bridges made of untreated German silver; balance cock engraved by hand
Movement parts: 400
Jewels: 42
Screwed gold chatons: 7
Escapement: Lever escapement
Oscillator: Shock-resistant screw balance; superior-quality balance spring manufactured in-house, frequency 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, precision beat adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring
Power reserve: 72 hours when fully wound
Functions: Time indicated in hours, minutes, and subsidiary seconds with stop seconds; power-reserve indicator; outsize date
Operating elements: Crown for winding the watch and setting the time; push piece for rapid correction of the outsize date
Case dimensions: Diameter: 40.9 millimetres; height: 9.8 millimetres
Movement: dimensions Diameter: 34.1 millimetres; height: 4.7 millimetres
Crystal and back Sapphire crystal (hardness 9)
Case: Platinum
Dial: Basic dial (outer ring, hour, minutes, small seconds) of solid silver (black), recessed parts of sapphire crystal with semitransparent coating; luminous outsize date and indications for hours and power-reserve
Hands: Rhodiumed gold; hours, minutes, power-reserve indicator luminous
Strap: Hand-stitched crocodile strap, black
Buckle: Lange prong buckle in platinum
Limited edition: 100 watches