A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual Watch Review
The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual is a highly desirable supremely-refined watch that first burst onto the watch scene in 2001. Now, 20 years later, the German brand has unveiled two new versions of the watch. Housed in either white or pink gold, both versions are blessed with a handsome blue dial and are limited to just 50 pieces each.
Occasionally, when a watch brand ceases to trade, I conduct a post-mortem examination. Quite often, there are inherent weaknesses that predisposed a firm to failure right from the outset. Questionable quality, woeful styling, dubious technology, poor marketing or insufficient funding are just some of the weaknesses that have blighted several businesses over the years and led to their inevitable demise.
Conversely, some luxury marques were always destined for greatness. Looking back, when A. Lange & Söhne was ‘re-registered’ after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its success was written in the stars. Its designs were classical but with a refreshingly neoteric twist. For example, the off-centre hour and minutes display of the Lange 1 afforded lots of space for the addition of an outsize date indication. Inspired by the Five Minute Clock in the Semperoper in nearby Dresden, the widescreen date format is now known as a speciality of the house.
A. Lange & Söhne is not just a creator of attractive timepieces, its models are wonderfully engineered and have been breathed upon by the most accomplished artisans. Glashütte ribbing, mirror-polishing, perlage and hand bevelling are just some of the examples of finishing that are practised in the Manufactory.
Another distinguishing characteristic of this prestigious marque is that it has combined complications that hitherto have never been mentioned in the same sentence. For instance, in 2001, the brand from Saxony unveiled the A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual. It was a paragon of fine watchmaking, combining a perpetual calendar with an outsize date. At the time, the pairing of these two complications represented a world first and, some 20 years later, it still remains so.
This summer, A. Lange & Söhne released three limited edition models designed to whet the appetite of all self-respecting horophiles. This dazzling triumvirate includes a version of the Saxonia Thin (50 pieces), the Cabaret Tourbillon Handwerkskunst (30 pieces) and, lastly, the Langematik Perpetual. This latter watch is actually available in two variants, white or pink gold, each limited to 50 pieces.
Both versions of the A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual are blessed with prepossessing blue faces. Luminescent hour and minute hands converse with applied hour markers, presented in Roman numeral form. Three subdials display various calendar functions as well as a poetic depiction of the moon’s age. In the upper portion of the dial, the outsize date conveys meaning in a highly legible form. A chemin de fer frames the model’s various indications and provides a tasteful means of delineating the dial from the case.
Interestingly, the German firm, when issuing promotional pictures, always shows the date on its watches set to ’25’. This is a reference to the date when Walter Lange relaunched the eponymous brand on the 25th October 1994.
To the rear of the watch, an exhibition caseback reveals that everything is well with the world. The self-winding movement, the Calibre L922.1 SAX-O-MAT, is beautifully appointed and an exemplar of Haute Horologerie. The movement encompasses the aforementioned matchless finishing. A three-quarter rotor, made of 21-carat gold with an arcing strip of platinum affixed to its edge, delivers convenience without impairing the view of various movement parts. Thermally-blued screws, a screwed-balance and an engraved balance cock are further details that will undoubtedly evoke widespread approval among the cognoscenti.
The A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual also includes a ‘ZERO-RESET function’. When the crown is pulled, the balance wheel stops and the small seconds hand jumps to zero. This function allows the wearer to synchronise the various time indications with a reference clock.
As someone who habitually observes watch companies, I continuously assess the competitiveness of brands and their overall capacity to deliver a fine watch. Based on everything I have seen, I predict the future for A. Lange & Söhne is very bright indeed.
A. Lange & Söhne Langematik Perpetual – the brand’s press release (July 2021)
The LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL was the first mechanical wristwatch to combine a perpetual calendar with the Lange outsize date. It differs from other calendar timepieces with small but subtle features such as the ZERO-RESET mechanism and a main corrector for simultaneously advancing all calendar displays. On the occasion of its 20th birthday, it now comes in white gold or pink gold, both combined with a blue dial, each in a 50-watch limited edition.
When the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL was introduced in March 2001, it was the first and only self-winding watch with a perpetual calendar, Lange’s iconic outsize-date display, a ZERO-RESET function and a main corrector for simultaneously advancing all calendar displays. This is still true today. The development and ongoing success of this exceptional watch is credited to a highly motivated team of experts, and specifically to one gifted individual, Günter Blümlein. The co-founder and first CEO of the manufactory spared no effort to meld horological beauty and artisanal perfection. This was accomplished in a particularly impressive manner with the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL, which was launched a few months prior to his untimely death. On the occasion of its 20th birthday, it now comes in white gold or pink gold, in limited editions of 50 watches each.
The blue dials of both new versions of the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL are crafted from solid silver. The applied Roman numerals, underlaid with an embossed groove structure, prominently stand out against the dark background. On the white-gold model, they are made of rhodiumed gold – just like the hands, appliques and lunar disc – and of pink gold on the pink-gold version. The hands for the hours, minutes, days of the week and month are luminous, as are the hour markers along the minute scale. A dark-blue leather strap with a prong buckle in white gold or pink gold complements the harmony of the timepiece.
A perpetual calendar unlike any other
“Innovation and differentiating design elements are key parameters for us,” Günter Blümlein once said in an interview. “Our watches must be classic and understated in looks, sleek, useful, and essentially German in nature.” At A. Lange & Söhne, this ambition steadily evolved into a cultural statement that emphasises subtle differences and manifests itself in many details. The LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL lives up to these lofty expectations in every respect.
The design of the dial complies with the principle of information hierarchy, assuring the best and most intuitive legibility of the calendar displays. As the most important information element, the outsize date is prominently positioned. The subsidiary dial on the left shows the day of the week; the one on the right displays the month. The perpetual calendar takes into account the different durations of the months in a four-year cycle, including those of the leap years. Once the watch is correctly set, a manual adjustment of the date is not needed until the year 2100. The moon-phase display at 6 o’clock, paired with the subsidiary seconds dial, is also a long-term indication; it only requires a correction of one day every 122.6 years. All calendar displays can be advanced collectively with a (recessed) main corrector at 10 o’clock. They can also be set separately.
Horological artistry with automatic winding
The self-winding L922.1 Sax-0-Mat calibre features the ZERO-RESET mechanism developed by Lange. When the crown is pulled, the balance wheel stops and the seconds hand jumps to the zero position. This simplifies and speeds up time setting. The bidirectionally winding rotor ensures that the maximum power reserve of 46 hours is attained within just a short time on the wrist. Integrated in the three-quarter plate, it consists of 21-carat gold with a centrifugal mass in platinum. This makes the escapement with hand-engraved balance cock and classic whiplash precision index adjuster readily visible.
Thanks to a movement height of merely 5.7 millimetres, the watch has a very slender silhouette. The case has a diameter of 38.5 millimetres and a height of just 10.2 millimetres. Artisanal perfection down to the smallest detail makes the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL an horological work of art for perpetuity. Not visible but tangible is the uncompromising benchmark of quality expressed by the two-fold assembly of all Lange manufacture calibres.