403.035, Datograph, First Generation, Platinum

In 1999, A. Lange & Söhne unveiled what many still regard as the benchmark for the haute horlogerie chronograph. Developed in-house, finished by hand and built around a flyback column-wheel movement, it brought a new standard of finishing and architecture to the category, and Switzerland took notice. This is the ref. 403.035, the First-Generation Datograph, and Lange's first chronograph since the brand's revival in 1990. It is the watch whose oversized display model of calibre L951.1 Patek Philippe president Philippe Stern reportedly studied for nearly ten minutes at the 1999 Basel fair. It is the watch that proved the newly reborn Glashütte could stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best of Genevan watchmaking. And it is the watch Philippe Dufour has repeatedly called 'the best chronograph movement ever made'.

A chronograph topped Lange's priority list almost as soon as its first collection launched in 1994. Günter Blümlein and Reinhard Meis, then head of product development, set out with movement designer Annegret Fleischer to build one of the most technically advanced and distinctly Saxon chronographs ever made. Unusually, the dial came first. Blümlein and Meis abandoned the conventional subdial positions at 3 and 9 o'clock, dropping the running seconds and minute counter slightly toward 8 and 4 so that, together with the outsize date at 12, they form an equilateral triangle. The Roman numerals at II, VI and X answer with a second, inverted triangle. Only once that geometry was settled was the calibre engineered, in effect reverse-engineered to serve the dial. The work took the better part of five years.

The result is a manually wound, column-wheel, lateral-clutch flyback chronograph with an outsize date, and it sits in a class of its own. The date takes its cue from the five-minute clock that Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes built for Dresden's Semper Opera House, inaugurated in 1841, working alongside his partner and future son-in-law, Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Calibre L951.1 and its 405 components were designed from the ground up with beauty in mind: German silver bridges, screwed gold chatons, a hand-engraved balance cock, and a depth of layered architecture few chronographs have matched. The details are the point. Consider the minute counter, which jumps precisely at each minute instead of creeping between markers. It was far harder to engineer and is far more satisfying to use. The movement is equal parts sculpture and instrument; in development, the project was reportedly nicknamed 'The Cathedral' for its towering, layered construction.

The 403.035 ran for thirteen years, from 1999 until 2012, when the 41mm Datograph Up/Down replaced it with a larger case and no Roman numerals. Gold versions arrived along the way, most famously the pink gold, black-dial ref. 403.031 of 2003 to 2005, nicknamed the 'Dufourgraph' because it is the configuration Dufour himself owns. Lange has never published production figures; most educated estimates place the platinum 403.035 at 1,500 to 2,000 pieces.

This example carries a 'Meters' dial with thin subdial print. As with the Lange 1, collectors are increasingly separating First Generation Datographs from the later 405.035. The platinum case measures 39mm across, but a stout 12.8mm thick, and it makes no apology for its heft. It is an uncompromising chronograph, shaped by Blümlein's direct design decisions and finished to a standard only a Saxon manufacture with something to prove would set. A collaborative vision, and emblematic of the best in German watchmaking.

This 403.035 presents in excellent overall condition. Its case is untouched and in beautiful condition overall. The dial is perfectly preserved. Its calibre L951.1 is running well in specification on our timing equipment. It comes with its full set, on matching pin buckle clasp.

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