“The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual was created for people who expect technical progress to make life more convenient” – this is the first thing that the German high-end watch manufacturer has to say about their latest model. Sure, if there ever was a typical Lange consumer in our minds, that is a person with pragmatic thinking and an appreciation for more refined things in life.

But even he or she knows that expecting technical progress from a device that has been obsolete for the better part of 40 years is a bit backwards – and yet, it is possible in the amusing world of high-end watchmaking. Ultimately, Lange delivers on its claims by making the A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual an extremely refined, thin, and yet highly functional perpetual calendar watch with some notable unique features – offering us a lot to do discuss here, so let’s begin with a few words about the base model.

The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual was the world’s first watch with an automatic movement, perpetual calendar and an “out-size date” – and that achievement is all the more impressive if we consider that all this complexity has been squeezed into a three-tier movement that is only 5.7 millimeters thick. So, if you are a person “expecting technical progress,” you will be delighted to know that we are off to a solid start here. All in all, the A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual offers a rather mind-boggling array of functions, that includes a perpetual calendar with large date, day of the week, month, phase of the moon, leap year, and day-night indications, as well as a subsidiary seconds hand with zero-reset function, and of course automatic winding.

We debuted Lange’s proprietary moon phase complication late last year in our hands-on article here, and it is there where we discussed at length what is new about it. In short, the A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual has the same system and it allows the moon phase indication of the watch to be more accurate than its “normal” counterparts: a traditional complication loses a full day in just 2.5 years, while Lange’s design elongates that period to a much more impressive 122.6 years. To see that design paired with the perpetual movement is a highly impressive achievement.

Considering the numerous displays of the perpetual calendar, A. Lange & Söhne designed the calendar complication in a way that the different indications can be set individually – using the integrated pushers in the side of the case, as seen in the image above – plus, there is one main pusher with which all indications can be set simultaneously. While this certainly is not as elegant a solution as that of the Kurt Klaus perpetual of IWC – where the perpetual calendar can be set through the crown – the large date, the accuracy of the moon phase, and the thinness of the movement surely compensate for this design.

As another rather unique detail, the L922.1 Sax-0-Mat movement features a zero-reset seconds hand, which brings the so called hacking seconds function to a new level – a neat addition for those obsessed with timekeeping accuracy. Upon pulling the crown out into the time-setting position, the Langematik Perpetual’s seconds hand is stopped and – much like a chronograph’s seconds hand – it can reset to the zero position. Removing the zero-reset chronograph function and incorporating it in time-only watches is not exactly new for Lange – earlier this year they surprised us with the quite impressive zero-reset tourbillon in the 1815 Tourbillon (hands-on here).

The movement contains 478 components and, as one would expect from A. Lange & Söhne, is lavishly adorned, including a hand-engraved balance cock – a trademark design element of all Lange watches – and a winding rotor in 21k gold with a platinum centrifugal mass on its periphery. If one looks hard enough, the traditional 3/4 plate seen on most Lange watches can be identified, however, in this instance that is split in the middle by the micro-rotor of the movement – allowing for the 5.7 millimeter thickness of it.

Despite the beautiful decorations of the movement itself when judged through the sapphire case back, the complicated nature of the perpetual calendar remains hidden: as it almost always is the case, the module for the perpetual calendar’s functions is located on the dial side of the movement, keeping this magnificent mechanism hidden away. In this case, it is covered by a blackened, solid silver dial with rhodium plated gold indices and a luminous minute track on its periphery.

What is new about this particular release is that the case that is 38.5 millimeter wide and just a hair over 10 millimeter thick, in this instance, is in white gold – thus far, it had been available in platinum and pink gold. The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual (310.026 E) in white gold is priced at $84,200. alange-soehne.com