Purple Guilloché 181.039 A. Lange & Söhne Little Lange 1

Seeing the Germans at Lange get this playful is like paging through your grandfather’s record collection and finding a vinyl of DJ Tiesto or Daft Punk, or finding out Giorgia Meloni is always wearing stockings under her power suit (actually, Italian, maybe that’s not a stretch). The point is this: 95% of the time, Lange are so clinically precise and measured that when they do let their hair down, there are years and years worth of pent up creative energy ready to go. And lately, the ‘Little’ Lange 1 has been the playground for that vein. Tudor aren’t Rolex’s little brother, they’re Rolex’s market skunkworks. Similarly, the Little Lange 1 is little in name only, recently it’s been Lange’s platform for a whole host of creative dial materials and finishes that rival anything from Switzerland, Patek or otherwise.

It first started with me in the flux dials, which look like a night sky except far more accurate than even De Bethune’s Starry dial. Then I saw a reinterpretation of the classic ‘Soirée, a historic mother of pearl Lange 1 that is now so collected as to be unattainable for most. But take off a few mm and this was the same thing. And it didn’t stop there, because we then got these colorful guillochés, something the full sized 1 was never really treated to. It had gold guilloché, grey, and striking silver made for Sincere Singapore, but never this. It was SIHH 2019, and we got this 100 example release in in purple.

It’s the closest we’ve ever seen to a Lange 1 ready to party. The dial is engine-turned on a solid silver blank, but with tones that range burgundy to pink. I don’t know how long it’s going to take the market to catch on to just how special these are, but it’s starting. Otherwise, it’s the 36.8mm case (so really more midsized) in white gold. These were only ever sold through boutiques and went mostly to VVIPs, as you’d expect today . . .thanks Richemont. But I can’t argue with a product. It’s fantastic. Mark my words, the Little Lange 1 is about to be a big deal.

This example appears really only very lightly worn. The white gold case has the lightest of hairlines, that’s it. It comes with a full set from a well-regarded Shanghai retailer.