101.027X A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

This is a 101.027X and unless you really know your Lange, it’s just like any other Lange 1. You’d be very wrong, however. Thought to have been made in 225 examples in the early years of modern Lange, it is today hunted by collectors like orphans on the plains of Africa by Angelina Jolie, with alarming alacrity. But why? A 101.027 is a blue dial. It’s the X after the reference, which denotes bright a silver dial with blue hands and a controversial, rather melancholy history. The X is special, very special. Because, a bit like the Space-Dweller, it commemorates and event that never fully happened.

UNESCO awarded the Elbe Valley the title of World Heritage Site in 2005 at LingnerSchloss. Controversially, it was removed (they rather politically call it delisting) four years later in 2009 when it was discovered that the application had misrepresented facts about the construction of the coming Waldschlößen bridge, whose modern build would ruin the classic architecture and harmony which had seen the region through the application. The 101.027X was created to celebrate the occasion for Dresden. Lange deliberately chose blue to match Dresden’s other more classic and famous bridge, the Loschwitz, known as the Blue Wonder. The UNESCO controversy was raised rather quickly, and so Lange never actually released the 101.027X in celebration as planned. They just trickled out in the market timidly, quietly excellent watches celebrating a region without an event to commemorate. It is thought to have been produced between 2002 and 2008 in bursts, but never introduced formally.

Avid Lange fans will note this is a rather small number of pieces to have been made over such a long timeframe, which is a bit strange. Possibly, these were made to order for the most enthusiastic Lange clients. Or perhaps the dials/hands were made and just cased slowly to not trigger any media. In any event, the 101.027X is one of the most attractive Lange 1 layouts, exactly like an early 101.026 (the steel Lange 1, yes Lange made them in steel, though estimated fewer than 30 examples) in the classic 38.5mm case only white gold and less discussed. Phillips sold one in 2022 for 138K CHF, which is a difficult result to understand. This is only the third I can recall ever coming up for sale in my time in watches. A Lange for a well-heeled but extremely tasteful collector.

This example is in great overall condition, with only very light surface wear visible on the case. It’s been taken care of, never polished by the looks of things. It comes with its full set from a well-regarded Belgian retailer.