Prestigious German luxury watch Maison A. Lange & Söhne has released a new platinum version of its Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar model with off-centre displays and peripheral month ring.
Launched in April 2021 in a white-gold version with a solid pink-gold dial (limited to 150 pieces) and in a pink-gold version featuring a grey solid-silver dial, Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar is now available with a 950-platinum case and black dial.
The dark background effectively highlights the moon-phase display with its integrated day/night indicator. The month ring provides the framework for all the displays. The numerals of the outsize date and the leap year contrast well against the black background.
All calendar indications switch instantaneously and therefore produce unambiguous readings at any given time. They can be advanced collectively or separately with correctors. Once set correctly, the mechanism is programmed to accurately display the turn of the month until 2100.
The peripheral month ring advances instantaneously at the end of each month. Premiered in 2012 with the launch of the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON PERPETUAL CALENDAR, the innovative mechanism replaces the traditional design where the month display is controlled by a 48-step cam.
Adding a day/night indicator to the moon-phase display is also typical of the manufactureʼs continued quest for precision. Constructed across two levels, it consists of a solid-gold celestial disc with graduated blue hues that rotates around its own axis once during 24 hours.
Against this backdrop, the white-gold moon performs its synodic orbit in 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds ‒ with such precision that the display only needs to be corrected by one day after 122.6 years.
First implemented in the LANGE 1 MOON PHASE in 2016, the indication depicts the moon moving across a bright-blue sky during the day and a dark-blue starry sky at night, thus indicating the diurnal and nocturnal hours respectively.
Visible though the sapphire-crystal caseback, the elaborately finished and twice-assembled Lange Calibre L021.3 features a unidirectional winding rotor in 21-carat gold with a centrifugal mass in platinum. Equipped with a balance with eccentric poising weights that beats at a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, the movement offers power reserve of 50 hours.
This perpetual calendar calibre boasts Lange-typical quality hallmarks such as plates and bridges made of untreated German silver decorated with Glashütte ribbing, five gold chatons held by blued-steel screws as well as the balance cock engraved free-hand, with the whiplash spring mounted above to regulate beat adjustments.
Technical details
Model: A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar in Platinum Ref. 345.036E
Movement
Lange manufacture calibre L021.3, self-winding, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand
Precision-adjusted in five positions
Plates and bridges made of untreated German silver
Unidirectional winding rotor in 21-carat gold with centrifugal mass in 950 platinum
Balance cock engraved by hand
No. of movement parts: 621
Jewels: 63
Screwed gold chatons: 5
Escapement: Lever escapement
Oscillator: Shock-resistant balance with eccentric posing weights; balance spring manufactured in-house, frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour; precision beat adjustment mechanism with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring
Power reserve: 50 hours when fully wound
Movement dimensions
Diameter: 35.8 millimetres
Height: 8.8 millimetres
Functions
Time indicated in hours, minutes and subsidiary seconds dial
Perpetual calendar with instantaneously advancing displays for outsize date, day of week, month and leap year
Moon-phase display with integrated day/night indicator
Operating elements
Crown for winding the watch and setting the time
Correctors for switching all calendar displays or for individual switching of the month, day of week and moon phase
Case
950 platinum
Diameter: 41.9 millimetres
Height: 12.1 millimetres
Crystal and transparent caseback
Sapphire crystal (Mohs hardness 9)
Dial
Solid silver, black
Hands: Rhodiumed gold
Strap
Hand-stitched leather, black
Prong buckle in 950 platinum
