722.050 A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon

722.050-Lange-Söhne-Lange-1-Tourbillon

The Lange 1 is a perfect design, cemented by three decades as a modern classic. Surely, any attempt to alter its harmony is about as wise as drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Duchamp did this sincerely, but he also signed a urinal. So here’s the question: is the Lange Tourbillon Duchamp’s Fountain? Or…

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101.027X A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

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…

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‘Soirée’ 110.030 A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

Lange-1-Soirée-110.030

Lange are great at what they turn their ample determination toward. Like Porsche with the 911, their core offerings have marched on consistently with small evolutionary improvements. They don’t really let their hair down often. Particularly so in their earlier years, pre-2010s when limited editions and ‘honeygold’ cases were a bit less common. Which is…

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101.030 A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 on Wellendorff Bracelet

Lange-1-101.030-Wellendorff

For most Lange 1s, the chances you have to acquire one are plentiful, given you have the funds. Perhaps the earlier solid back executions less so. But even less common than those is what you see here. Not the 101.030, but a factory Wellendorff bracelet. Bracelets really make up such a huge portion of the…

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Closed Caseback, Small ‘MiG’ 101.002 A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

A-Lange-&-Söhne-Closed-Caseback-Lange-1-101.002

The standard neo-vintage conversation covers the holy trinity QPs, integrated offerings from the 90s like first generation Overseas, Roth for Breguet, Roth for Roth, CPCP, oddities like the Star Wheel or Mercator, and brass Journe. One deserving entrant always gets left out: zee Germans at Lange. I have a hypothesis for this: for all the…

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Blue Mother of Pearl A. Lange & Söhne 113.041 Little Lange 1

Mother-of-Pearl-Lange-&-Söhne-Lange-1-113.041

The overtly Teutonic A. Lange & Söhne don’t often venture into the more playful material choices. One imagines a Lange 1 dial to be solid silver almost by definition, or if you’re feeling particularly racy perhaps pink gold. But they have experimented in small quantities with more creative full guilloché, enameling, and this: mother of…

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191.028 A. Lange & Söhne Blue Lange 1

Blue-Lange-1-191.028

Modern Lange are, despite their reputation, still relatively young by comparison to their Swiss peers. Three decades of consistent excellence is a remarkable achievement and infinitely deserving of utmost respect. However, some Swiss contemporaries have been in constant production three to four times as long. In the younger years of their resuscitation, 1990-2010ish, Lange were…

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101.325 Lange 1 ‘Stealth’ PT on Wellendorff Bracelet

101.325-A-Lange-Sohne-Lange-1-Bracelet-Platinum

This is not an everyday occurrence, or even a yearly occurrence. Chances to pick up a Lange 1 are plentiful, even for rare variants like the early solid-back, Darth, or 1A. Chances to acquire a fully factory, fully platinum Wellendorff bracelet version with accompanying reference and documentation are vanishingly slim. Ordering this option and reference…

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‘Darth’ 101.035 Lange 1

Lange-1-Darth-101.035

Say what you will about Vader, the man’s got taste. The 101.035 was Lange’s last production watch to feature platinum with an all-black dial. The reference’s run was stopped short after seven years, as Lange started to desaturate the platinum and black market they observed in other brands and their own models. Collectability creates monikers…

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