112.021, Lange 1A, Yellow Gold

When Walter Lange re-registered the family name in December 1990, fifty years of Saxon watchmaking lay in state ruins; four years later the Lange 1 became the face of the resurrection. In 1998, to celebrate the opening of a new manufacture building named 1A—hard proof the gamble had worked—Lange issued its first-ever limited Lange 1: the Lange 1A, ref. 112.021—one hundred examples in yellow gold, with naming conventions echoing the "1A" quality grade Ferdinand Adolph Lange reserved for his finest 19th-century pocket watches. Few watches carry the weight of the Lange 1A, literally and metaphorically. These 100 Lange 1A examples were the celebration of successful revival. 

The opposite of Germanic restraint, the 1A is a gloriously ornate outlier. It was Lange's first guilloché dial and its first series watch with a solid gold dial—18k yellow gold, radiant engine-turning bursting from each register, sauté piqué rim, gold appliques, even a gold date disc, all in the traditional 38.5mm case. Co-founder Günter Blümlein, who decreed that a Lange case should feel like ‘closing a Mercedes door,’ gave it the three-tier construction with brushed band and notched, soldered lugs. Cases run from 117400 to 117500 with matching movement and edition numbers. Seconds hands came blued or gold, seemingly to customer taste—a quirk collectors still catalogue and quibble over. This example features the tradition gold handset with blued petite seconds.

The excess continues behind the sapphire. Calibre L901.1 keeps the original Lange 1's twin-barrel, 72-hour, 365-part architecture at 21,600 vph, but replaces the German silver balance and escape-wheel cocks with hand-engraved solid gold, and renders the escape wheel and lever in white gold—a revival of the anti-corrosion practice of 19th-century master watchmakers which creates a delightful contrast.

The hundred pieces left the catalogue by 2000. A drastic departure from previous conservatism, the 1A stepped generously overboard in precious metal and finishing investment. It remains an elusive symphony in excess from the manufacture's first years, the first limited edition Lange 1 and true harbinger of 1A quality—nearly a century after that convention began. 

The 112.021 presents in exceptional overall condition. Its case bears light signs of occasional wear, commensurate with age. Its dial is flawless. It comes with its original full set, on the pictured grey diamond-leather strap.

This example is modelled on an average-sized 7-inch wrist.