Craftsmanship in Every Detail: A. Lange & Söhne Unveils Datograph Handwerkskunst
2024 is a momentous year for A. Lange & Söhne, with many milestones to look back on. 34 years ago, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany's most prestigious watch manufacture was revived by Walter Lange, the great-grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who had founded the company in 1845 and had laid the foundation for the industry in the impoverished town of Glashütte on the outskirts of Dresden.
Five years after presenting its first collection comprising of the Lange 1, the Arkade, the Saxonia and the Tourbillon Pour le Mérite in October 1994, which was enthusiastically received, Lange surprised the watchmaking world with the Datograph in 1999, one of the first entirely in-house designed and manufactured chronograph calibers in decades. Combining innovative functions including a column-wheel chronograph with a flyback function, a precisely jumping minute counter and the typical Lange outsize date which is approximately three times larger than a common indication and was inspired by the famous 5-Minute Clock of Dresden's Semperopera, with traditional watchmaking artistry and a very distinctive design, it has since then been a benchmark for the genre and a collectors' as well as watchmakers' favorite. These among them including the ingenious Philippe Dufour favorite.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this chronograph icon, A. Lange & Söhne launched a new edition at this year's Watches and Wonders: the Datograph Up/Down in white gold with a blue dial, limited to 125 pieces. One of the most talked-about pieces at the exhibition was also the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold "Lumen", a high horological masterpiece with the three eponymous complications united in the brand's genuine gold and a luminescent dial that puts its technical prowess in the spotlight even in the dark.
Datograph Handwerkskunst
These exceptional timepieces are now followed by the limited edition Datograph Handwerkskunst, which was presented at this year's Watches and Wonders Shanghai. "Handwerkskunst" is the German expression for craftsmanship. While every Lange timepiece is characterized by meticulous handicraft and attention to detail, this exclusive series, first introduced in 2011, is literally the bees' knees in terms of refinement, incorporating rare and challenging techniques such as tremblage, black polishing, and relief engraving. The endless hours that Lange's master craftspeople invest in the decoration and finishing of each part result in an unparalleled level of dial design and a highly refined appearance.
The black rhodium-plated main dial and the rhodium-plated light gray totalizers feature an elaborate tremblage engraving that creates a three-dimensional texture with subtle reflections of light. In this technique, the engraver uses a specially designed lining burin to create a fine-grained surface. The challenge is not only to achieve a uniform texture on the smallest of surfaces, but also to preserve certain dial elements, such as the arched brand logo, the minute and second graduations, and the tachymeter scale. Together with the subsidiary dials, which are slightly offset downwards in the typical Datograph layout, and the aperture for the outsize date, they remain clearly visible with their sculpted contours of the relief engraving, contrasting sharply with the background. In a first step, the edges of the appliqués and Roman numerals are chamfered and the surfaces are decorated with a straight graining. In a second step, which requires great care, they are placed on the dial and stand out against the refined background. The hands are also meticulously chamfered.
Of course, the craftsmanship is also evident in every detail of the highly complex manufacture caliber L951.8, which can be seen through the exhibition case back. For example, the surfaces of the chronograph levers are black polished, a particularly time-consuming and rare technique that ensures that incident light is reflected in only one direction. From this perspective alone, the surface of the lever appears jet black, but from all other angles, it has a mirror-like shine. Inspired by historic pocket watches, the grained surface of the bridges on the German silver three-quarter plate is the design counterpart to the tremblage engraving on the dial.
The hand engraving on the balance cock, a signature of the manufacture, is the most distinctive design element. Here, we see a filigree vine pattern. Unlike a conventional Lange engraving, in which the pattern is cut into the material, this decoration is relief-engraved. Floral motifs have a long tradition at Lange, as they adorned the first precision pocket watches dating back to the company's early years in the 19th century. This caliber is therefore a significant example of the manufacture's technical expertise in chronograph construction as well as its artistic craftsmanship.
