A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange

The Phoenix Rises. A. Lange & Söhne was founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Its watches are among the finest and occupy the same rare air as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

A. Lange & Söhne was founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in Glashütte, State of Saxony. During World War II arial bombardment decimated its workshops. After the war, what was left of the company's property was expropriated the post-war socialist regime in 1948. With this, the A. Lange & Söhne brand ceased to exist. Fourth-generation Walter Lange fled to the west with the communist takeover of East Germany.

In 1989, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the East German government, Adolph Lange's great-grandson, Walter Lange, sought to reestablish the company. A year later, with the help of IWC and the Richemont Group, A. Lange & Söhne reopened its doors in the city of Glashütte. Instead of using other manufacturers movements in their watches, and rushing to production, A. Lange & Söhne set about creating its own movements and so it was not until 1994 that the new generation of A. Lange & Söhne watches appeared.


Richard Lange. Richard Lange was the eldest son of Adolph Lange. Richard Lange was awarded with 27 patents and utility model grants. The Richard Lange wristwatch is name after him. The Richard Lange is an observation watch. Originally made as large pocket watches used in research institutes and scientific expeditions, the Richard Lange is an observation watch for the wrist.

The 40.5 mm diameter case has a solid-silver dial exhibits an hour scale with the Roman numerals that were typical for the scientific observation watches of the 1930s. The dial is large and easy to read, and the minute scale is subdivided into sixths of a second to match six ticks per second that the movement produces (21,600 vibrations per hour [vph]). The movement, a manual winding L014.2 movement is visible to a sapphire crystal case back.


While the 21,600 vph produced by the Richard Lange is actually below what is expected of high end wristwatches, the Richard Lange features innovations developed to enhance accuracy. The Richard Lange's balance spring was developed by A. Lange & Söhne 's watchmakers and is manufactured in-house. It is attached with a patent-pending clamp that, unlike other constructions, does not deform the spring in the stud but instead merely secures it to simplify any future adjustments that may be needed.

The new balance spring reflects what is probably Richard Lange's greatest accomplishment. In 1930, he had filed the application for Patent No. 529945 "Metal alloy for watch springs".

The spring barrel stopwork is another design measure that increases the rate accuracy of this watch. Thanks to this device, the going train of the Richard Lange is continuously powered at nearly constant torque over a period of 38 hours. The wheel that carries the seconds hand is driven by a separate train that runs under its own bridge.

The watch is available in yellow gold, rose gold and platinum.