Baselworld 2019 and its slew of new product releases dominated the watch-industry news cycle for the past few weeks, but several watchmakers not in attendance at the big show made some announcements during that time as well. In the interest of being thorough, we’re covering one of these today, namely the release of the third limited-edition piece in A. Lange & Söhne’s collection celebrating the 25th anniversary of its iconic Lange 1 model. Following up January’s Lange 1, and February’s Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase, we have a similarly exclusive, and distinctly decorated, version of the more modestly sized Little Lange 1.
Like its two predecessors, the Little Lange 1 “25th Anniversary” model features a solid silver argenté-colored dial with deep blue printed hour markers and date numerals, blued steel hands, and a blue-filled, relief-engraved numeral “25” on the movement’s balance cock denoting this watch as one of an extremely limited series of just 25 pieces.
Launched in 1998, four years after the momentous debut of the original Lange 1, the “Little” version was intended as precisely that — a slightly daintier and arguably more feminine iteration of its progenitor, 1.7 mm smaller in diameter at 36.8 mm. In all other respects, the watch offers all the aesthetic and technical elements that made the Lange 1 a classic, including the off-center hours-minutes subdial, the “outsize” date display (easily adjusted with a push-piece recessed into the case), and the “Auf/Ab” (“Up/Down”) hand-type power-reserve indicator.
Since 2018, the Little Lange 1 model has been powered by the Lange manufacture Caliber L121.1, a manually wound movement with plates and bridges made of untreated German silver; an in-house-manufactured, freely oscillating balance spring; a 21,600-vph frequency; and a fully wound power reserve of 72 hours. The watch’s 18k white-gold case is attached to a blue alligator leather strap, with hand-stitched gray contrast stitching — another hallmark of the 25th Anniversary series, of which Lange intends to release one new model per month throughout 2019 — and a white-gold pronged buckle. The Little Lange “25th Anniversary” edition is priced at 35,000 euros (about $35,000).
