To celebrate the 25th anniversary of A. Lange & Söhne, the brand is unveiling a new birthday present to itself on the 24th of every month this year up until October. That means that once a month, every month, we get to see a new watch with anniversary colours on it. This time we are getting a blue’d up version of one of my all-time favourite watches, the excellent Lange 1 Timezone.
I got to try out a Lange 1 TimeZone in the factory in Glashütte when we visited them a few years ago. Have you ever put on a watch that just sat perfectly on your wrist? Completely perfect proportions, not too large in diameter, neither thick nor top heavy? Believe it or not, finding ‘the one’ in high-end watchmaking such as this is tricky; every brand wears differently on the wrist. Complicated watches from A. Lange & Söhne tend to be meaty, substantial, and speak with clout. Yet, the Lange 1 Timezone was the perfect balance of both mass and restraint.
As with all of the limited edition watches we’ve seen so far, the changes to the watch are minimal and unobtrusive. The hands and print on the dial have changed from the usual deep black lacquer to a vibrant blue, but the print itself and fonts remain untouched, why change perfection, right? Even the colour of the print in the Outsize Date has turned blue. The only parts that are not given the blue treatment are the two bottom triangles for the power reserve so that the wearer knows the watch is low on power and the GMT text on the city bezel. On this watch, the city ring connects to a pusher, when depressed, the city ring advances forwards and moves the hours and the day/night indicator of the smaller time dial.
On the reverse, it’s business as usual. Well, business as usual for a watch from A. Lange & Söhne which includes Glashütte stripes and perfect edge chamfers. The engraving on the balance cock has been filled with blue paint, but due to the extra layers of parts for the Timezone function, there isn’t space to put the ’25’ logo on the balance cock. It’s instead placed on a separate balance cock for a wheel that overlaps the traditional three-quarter plate, so you don’t miss out.
The case measures 41.9mm in diameter because 42mm is for crazy people. The case and buckle are made of 18k white gold. We don’t know the price yet, but as with every version so far, this one is limited to 25 examples worldwide.
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