REVIEW: Hands On With The A.Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone

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As A. Lange & Söhne celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic Lange 1, we thought we’d join the party, and what better way to help celebrate than to take the Lange 1 Time Zone out and about?

2024 has been a celebratory year for A. Lange & Söhne. The Saxony brand has celebrated two birthdays this year, the first being the 25th Anniversary of the Datograph, which was showcased at Watches & Wonders this year with the stunning Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen and the Datograph Up/Down, but the second, and maybe the most important was the 30th Anniversary of the Lange 1, the first modern watch the brand created after being brought back to life.

RELATED READING: Happy 30th Birthday to A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1!

So, it is safe to say that the Lange 1 is a special piece when it comes to A. Lange & Söhne, and when we interviewed A. Lange & Söhne’s Asia Pacific Managing Director, Nicolas Gong, a couple of months ago, he had this to say about the Lange 1, and I think he summed it up perfectly:

“It’s the first watch that we launched and part of the first collection we launched. For me, it was a striking launch because basically A. Lange & Söhne disappeared for 40 years and up to that point, no one had seen anything contemporary from the brand, so it’s the start of contemporary watchmaking for us. It was really unique at the time because if you look through the Lange 1, you have the outside state, which is inspired by the 5-minute clock (talking about the large date window), and you have all the details behind the watch, meaning the movements. You have the hand polishing, you have the three-quarter plates, a signature of German watchmaking and A. Lange & Söhne. It’s everything related to the Lange history.”

First Impressions

A. Lange & Söhne has been somewhat of an underappreciated brand in my view, and only recently has started getting the attention it rightly deserves. In a world where Swiss watches reign supreme and the Geneva Seal is coveted, the way A. Lange & Söhne creates, crafts, and finishes their watches is sublime. What is also astounding is that even though the brand was resurrected in 1990, and the first watch not being released until 1994, in that time, A. Lange & Söhne have been able to bring back the craftsmanship Ferdinand Adolph Lange started back in 1845, and over the past 30 years, have created 73 in-house movements, all with impeccable finishing I might add.

When it comes to a beautiful dressier piece, then I can think of no better brand than A. Lange & Söhne to put on the wrist, and if you’re going to have such a nice piece, then why not add in a complication or so just to top it off? Enter the Lange 1 Time Zone. Now I can’t stress enough how nice these pieces are on the wrist, and it is one of those things that you need to try for yourself. The weight of the watch, combining the white gold case and German silver in the movement and dial has a sort of luxuriousness about it. The leather strap compliments the piece beautifully, and while it is 42mm, A. Lange & Söhne has been able to pack all the functionality of this piece into a case that is less than 11mm thick. Its clever design and engineering, both something the Germans are renowned for.

The Design

The design of the Lange 1 is unmistakable. The offset main dial, smaller sub-dial, and large panorama date are all hallmarks of the brand, as are the smooth polished case and welded lugs. In the case of the Lange 1 Time Zone, these hallmarks are all there, just more. A. Lange & Söhne have cleverly added more functionality to the watch and showcased this on the dial with ease.

You still have the asymmetrical dial design, with the man time zone centre left, and the small seconds have been moved from the main sub-dial normally at 4 o’clock down to the bottom of the main dial. In its place is the second time zone with a day/night indicator at 4:30 allowing you to see at a glance a secondary time, which, depending on your destination country, can be set by the pusher at 8 o’clock. Pushing this allows you to cycle through the world time disc on the outer dial, which is aligned to the white gold arrow hand with the red marker between the 4 and 6 on the sub-dial. If the marker is red, it indicates that the city has daylight savings time, if it is not, then the city doesn’t observe this. While this is useful, you still need to set the time based on this, as there is no way the watch is able to adjust for the 1 hour time difference at certain times of the year. It’s one issue with 99.9% of all mechanical world timers, all but the Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1 which just won the GPHG Mechanical Exception Prize, being the first mechanical watch to solve the daylight saving time zone issue automatically.

The Lange 1 Time Zone also indicates the day/night with the small blue rings on the inner of the main and second time-zone dials, which you can see in the image above. When the hour hand is in this zone, it means the time is between the hours of 6pm and 6am, thus indicating night. In the above image, the main time would be 1:50pm in the afternoon, and the second time zone would be 6:50pm in the evening.

RELATED READING: The Legacy Of Iconic Watch Designs: A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

On the outer part of the dial on the right is the power reserve indicator, showing how much of the 72-hour power reserve you have left. AUF = full, and AB = empty, (this isn’t the literal translation from German to English, it’s more to explain the points on the scale), so it’s a handy function for those who may not wear this piece each day, and like all Lange 1 models, the large outsized date at 1:30. Now I love the look of the outsized date, but the one thing that has always bugged me about it is the start of the month, specifically between the 1st and the 9th of the month. When the date is in double digits, I.e. 10th onwards, it looks great, it’s balanced. But between the 1st and the 9th of the month, only the numeral in the right window appears with the left window empty, and thus, looks unbalanced. Personally, I’d love to see the single-digit dates represented as “01”, “02”, “03” etc to keep the consistency with the other 66% of the time.

A. Lange & Söhne has designed the case with 18-carat white gold (in this model specifically) and has the lustre you just don’t get with steel. The case is a combination of high polish on the bezel, lugs and underside of the case, and the middle section is brushed, which gives it more texture and alleviates some of those pesky surface swirls you get with polished white gold. As Lange opts to do most things the traditional way, the case and lugs are separate, with the lugs being welded onto the case, and then hand-finished to create a clear definition between them. What always amazes me is how sharp the artisans can get the join, with almost no signs of the welding apparent, and a nice clean finish that sightly angles or steps in at the top of the lug where it joins into the case.

How It Wears

The 42mm, well, 41.9mm to be specific, sized case may seem a little large for some, as A. Lange & Söhne have used the Grand Lange case for the Time Zone, but the proportions for me seem pretty spot on for a watch like this. You need the dial real estate to show the numerous functions clearly, which there is plenty of here, but that being said, the domed bezel helps to effectively slim, or shrink the watch down visually across the wrist.

With a lug-to-lug of just under 50mm, the Lange 1 Time Zone does feel a little broad across the wrist, but it’s not overly so thanks to the broader than normal 22mm lug width of the Grand Lange case. This actually gives the watch a better proportion, and as you can see below, the lugs in combination with the 41.9mm case still has plenty of wrist on either side.

At just 10.9mm thick, this is not a thick watch, especially when you consider that A. Lange & Söhne have packed in a dual time zone, geographic or world time, power reserve, small seconds indicator and an outsized date into the piece along with a display case back. Even so, the Lange 1 Time Zone wears slightly thinner on the wrist thanks to the stepped case back, meaning the watch sits into the wrist a little, and there is less side case visible. The domed bezel also helps to thin it out in addition to making it seem a little smaller in diameter thanks to the curvature of it.

In terms of style, Lange 1’s are not sports watches. For me, they sit in the dress watch realm, but I’ll caveat this by saying they are technically not dress watches by definition. They are however, a good blend of traditional style meets modern tastes, a watch that can be dressed up or down depending on what you’re wearing on the day. Would I wear this to a kids sports match on the weekend? Probably not. Would I wear it on the weekend out to lunch or afternoon drinks? Definitely! I feel shorts and a T-shirt would be a stretch, but a nice pair of jeans and a polo shirt would be elevated by the Lange 1 Time Zone, equally, a suit would perfect the look also, hence my choice of business casual for the photoshoot here. I may have gone too Don Johnson with the cream-on-white look, but it worked nonetheless.

Taking the above comments into account, I would say this: The Lange 1 Time Zone is probably not an everyday watch for most people. Yes, it is versatile enough to be worn with different outfits for different occasions, but don’t forget this is a white gold watch, and as such, needs to be treated with respect. By this I mean you can’t just do your everyday activities with this watch and expect it to hold up over time. Gold is soft remember, and scratches easily, so you would need to care for it as such. If you’re a corporate type in a suit and in the office, you could get away with this piece on your wrist each day. However, if you’re like me and are not in such a job, and you’re out and about, doing different things for work or otherwise; kids pick-ups, photoshoots etc, then this is more of a special piece that would come out when the need calls for it.

RELATED READING: Getting To Know A. Lange & Söhne Up Close In Sydney – Photo Report

The Movement

This is the second generation Time Zone, which has now been around for four years, originally coming out in 2020. Inside this beats the manufacture calibre L141.1. At its core, you have a 72-hour power reserve which comes from the energy stored in two barrels in the manual winding movement. It beats at 3Hz or 21,600 VpH, which is not on the high side compared to other modern watches these days, but I would say that this helps extend the power reserve out of the two barrels, meaning the barrels can effectively be smaller, allowing room in the movement for all the other complications.

The movement itself is a work of art, and when it comes to finishing, very few are at the level that A. Lange & Söhne are at. One of the distinct hallmarks of the Lange 1 is the three-quarter bridge, made of German Silver that covers the barrels and drive train. Now don’t be fooled, German Silver isn’t actual silver, it is a Nickel/Copper/Zinc alloy that has a warm hue, and while it’s highly corrosion resistant, it can still tarnish and change colour over time. This is one reason why the watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne have to be highly trained and no bare fingertip can touch the German Silver components otherwise that small area can oxidise from the oils in the skin and change colour at a greater rate.

Delving a little deeper into the movement, every surface is finished, and I mean finished! All of the edges are bevelled and polished, even the service hatch in the middle of the main bridge has hand-polished bevelling. The use of both blue-fired screws and black-polished screws is evident and showcases Lange’s desire to incorporate different finishes to create an overall aesthetic. Even the rubies are set into gold chaton cups, surrounded by three blue-fired screws, which is reminiscent of historic German pocket watches, as is the rest of the movement.

I’d add as a last point on the movement, A. Lange & Söhne is famous for having to assemble, disassemble and then re-assemble their movements once fully finished to ensure both accuracy and quality. The watches are also tested in 5 positions once cased, so you can be sure that not only are you getting an impeccably finished movement, but it’s also robust and accurate as well!

Final Thoughts

All good things must come to an end, and this sums up my time with the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone. When you’ve worn a piece like this for a while, it’s hard to give back. I mentioned at the start of the article that a beautifully designed precious metal piece on the wrist is like no other and you need to try it on to see what I really mean. The combination of the gold weight mixed with the finish of the watch, and a very stylish alligator strap makes you feel like a million dollars, and somehow, just that little more sophisticated.

While no watch is without its flaws, every now and then some pieces come close, and for me personally, the Lange 1 Time Zone is one of these watches. Yes, it has aspects that I don’t LOVE, but at the same time, none of these are deal breakers and to be honest, I’ve had to nitpick here. With A. Lange & Söhne only making around 5,000 watches in total a year, and with their strict adherence to quality and craftsmanship, not to mention their ability to develop so many in-house movements, I would expect their pieces to be mostly flawless, and thankfully, this has been my experience here.

I’ve always looked at Lange 1’s as the epitome of class, and should a more dressy piece find its way into my collection, it would be hard to go past a Lange 1 of any variant. The Time Zone takes it up another notch with the additional functionality, and when you’re travelling overseas several times a year, it would come in very handy. Will I be seeing one on my wrist as the proud owner any time soon? I’ll see if I win that Powerball jackpot this week and tell you. But if not, then it’s a grail addition for sure, another one added to the list of watches I need to own in my lifetime.

Reference: 136.029 / LSLS1363AG

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 41.9mm, 49.8mm lug-to-lug & 10.9mm thick
• Case Material: Brushed and polished 18k White gold
• Case back: Brushed and polished 18k White Gold with sapphire crystal display
• Dial: Black galvanised Sterling Silver with two-time zone displays, world time function, power reserve indicator, outsized date and day/night indicators, white gold hands and indices
• Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
• Water resistance: 30m / 3bar
• Movement: Calibre L141.1 hand-wound movement beating at 3Hz / 21,600 VpH and pivoting on 33 jewels
• Power reserve: 72 Hours
• Strap: Brown sustainably sourced alligator leather strap with double folding 18k white gold clasp

Australian Recommended Retail Price: $99,000 AUD

Availability: Available now from A. Lange & Söhne in Martin Place, Sydney. Enquire online at Alange-soehne.com

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