a. lange & sohne auf no 3009 doppelfederhaus ab

A. Lange & Sohne, of Glash��tte, Germany, has just announced a new rose gold version of the LANGE 31. The LANGE 31 was originally introduced two years ago, in a platinum case. Over the last 2 years, senior designer, Martin Schetter, has worked with his design team to create a new variation. Two years seems like a whole lot of time, just to create a new variation of a timepiece. It is, but, Lange imposes so many quality and design requirements when creating a timepiece, that it takes this long. The results are worth the wait, as this Saxon manufacture produces some of the most beautiful timepieces in the world. The LANGE 31 is the world's first mechanical watch to boast a power reserve of 31 days and a constant-force escapement that powers the going train with constant torque delivery. The enormous amount of energy needed to keep the watch running so long is transferred to the movement with a winding key and stored in a twin mainspring barrel. This guarantees that the balance receives an identical amount of energy every ten seconds, regardless of the state of wind of the springs.A movement with such a large power reserve requires a lot of space. The movement alone, has a diameter of 37.3 mm and 9.6 mm thick. The requisite case is quite large. In fact, this is the largest A. Lange & Sohne timepiece available. For reference, Lange watch cases are generally 38 to 42 mm wide and 9 to 14mm thick. The case on the LANGE 31 is 45.9 mm wide by 15.9 mm thick. It's big. Available November 2009. Retail is $114K.[Press Release PDF: LANGE 31 Rose Gold ]

Last year, Lange introduced the Zeitwerk. For SIHH 2010, they unveiled the Lange Zeitwerk "Luminous", like the original Zeitwerk, but with an even more contemporary design and, of course, "luminous" (white Superluminova coated jumping hours and minutes). I was surprised to hear that Lange used PVD on any of their watches, however, the PVD coated German silver time bridge probably looks great in-person. Especially on top the dark-tinted sapphire crystal glass that essentially acts as the dial on this Lange masterpiece. Viewing the numbers, in the dim lighting, behind the tinted glass, while the hours and minutes advance, is surely an amazing sight. Press Release PDFRetail is TBDSource: A Lange & Sohne