A Lange & Sohne Ivory Watches

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 ]

SIHH 2010: A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia Annual CalendarA. Lange & Sohne went a long way developing the most complicated in-house movements and an addition to their extensive line of models of an Annual Calendar watch was only a matter of time. I am so glad it is a Saxonia model that successfully combines elegant appearance with intelligent design.A little bit of total disclosure here: when it comes to dressy watches, I am a sucker for Lange. Okay, now that I have said it I can more or less safely admit that my heart is bleeding when I read a torrent of press releases issued by the German manufacture.I mean, some of these models cost like a decent three-bedroom suburbian house and are still out of my reach especially now, when the global financial crisis finally starts showing its ugly face (Yeah, I think this is just the beginning of the real crisis and Greece is just one of the first real countries to call it quits on its enormous sovereign debt. God, I wish I was too pessimistic about this.) Let’s get down to business, though.The new A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia Annual Calendar comes powered by their recently developed L085.1 SAX-0-MAT automatic movement. Designed and built totally in-house, decorated and assembled by hand, this terrific example of German ingenuity sports Lange’s Zero-Reset function that makes the small second hand at 6 o’clock either fall back or spring forward to zero depending whether it is between 0 and 30 or 30 and 60 seconds position.Being an Annual Calendar, the watch is capable to show current date, day of week, month and even moon phase. It is not a perpetual calendar, so you will have to adjust the watch once a year, which is, let’s face it, still rather annoying. On the other hand, a perpetual calendar with leap year function would be a lot more expensive and more demanding to proper servicing, too.The movement seats inside a rather compact white (Ref. 330.026) or pink gold (Ref. 330.032) case 38.5 mm in diameter and only 9.8 mm in height, which is really wonderful for an automatic watch.