Watch Wallpaper: 5 Amazing Views Inside the A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret Tourbillon


A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret TourbillonIn the photo essay “Through the Looking Glass” in WatchTime’s December 2008 issue, we took readers inside the micro-mechanical wonderland of A. Lange & Söhne’s Cabaret Tourbillon. Now these exclusive images by photographer Jorg Wischmann are available as downloadable wallpaper for your computer’s desktop.

Click on each image for the larger version. Explanations of the technological detail in each photo are in the captions.

Lange Cabaret Tourbillon - detail 1
Like little arrows, these golden screws point toward the balance spring inside the balance. The screws are used to finely adjust the mechanism. If the duration of each oscillation of the balance needs to be shortened, milling miniscule amounts of metal from the screws’ heads can reduce their weight. The opposite result can be achieved by inserting tiny washers. Lange manufactures these tiny screws to a tolerance of two micrometers and then plates them with gold.
Lange Cabaret Tourbillon - detail 2
This blued steel screw keeps the intermediate-gear cock in its proper place. The cock is manually decorated with floral ornaments of the type found in Lange’s historical pocket watches. The engraver holds the burin nearly parallel to the work piece and carefully lifts shaving after shaving out of the metal. Each master engraver carves in his or her own unmistakable “handwriting.” It takes between one and two hours to engrave each cock.
Lange Cabaret Tourbillon - detail 3
A ruby bearing inside a gold setting is an old tradition. Today mostly ornamental, it once served a crucial purpose: it enabled watchmakers to replace a damaged jewel without having to alter the hole that had been drilled into the plate. This is no longer necessary because these synthetic gems are standardized and their material has a more homogeneous structure. Nonetheless, screwed gold settings (so-called chatons) remain a distinguishing feature of consummately crafted movements.
Lange Cabaret Tourbillon - detail 3
A. Lange & Söhne is the only watch company that makes a balance-stop device for its tourbillon. It’s only logical that a highly precise timepiece should have a mechanism to facilitate to-the-second setting of its seconds hand. Lange developed and patented this device, which directly decelerates the balance, leaving enough potential energy in the balance spring so that when the balance stop mechanism is released, the spring still has the strength to restart the balance’s oscillations.
Lange Cabaret Tourbillon - detail 5
”8,” “9” and “0” are three of the 10 digits on the “units” disk of Lange’s big date display. The disk itself is propelled by teeth cut into its inner rim. The mighty obelisk rising through the circular aperture of the cover-plate is the hour-and-minute cannon, to which the hour hand and minutes hand will be affixed.

A. Lange & Sohne Cabaret Tourbillon

No Responses to “Watch Wallpaper: 5 Amazing Views Inside the A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret Tourbillon”

Show all responses
  1. Very great looking much I want to know what is the price and how long text to get that thank you

    Reply
  2. Debashish

    Thanks a million for the awesome wallpapers!

    I am sure that all watch aficionados would love these!

    Reply
Leave a Reply