A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater Honeygold Watch Review
The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold is different from most watches that share the same job title. This expression of Haute Horlogerie is equipped with a decimal minute repeater that chimes the hours, tens and units. As Angus Davies explains, this product of Saxony features an array of horological delicacies such as a constant force escapement, variable-inertia balance and gorgeous black polished components.
Indicating the time of night
Take a few moments and look towards the heavens. The once enchanting views of the night sky are now somewhat diminished. The spectacle of twinkling stars is a tad less intense due to the effects of light pollution. While artificial light confers safety and convenience, it also increases CO₂ emissions, disrupts human sleep and affects the natural patterns of wildlife. Clearly, it wasn’t always like this.
In the 17th century, street lighting was minimal; candles, torches and oil lamps were the preferred forms of nocturnal illumination, albeit they were still rare. In 1879, Thomas Edison managed to illuminate an incandescent light bulb, an invention that would eventually lead to the gradual adoption of electrical lighting.
The first chiming watch (1680)
The absence of nocturnal illumination during the 17th century led to an English watchmaker, Daniel Quare (1648-1724), inventing the first repeater watch mechanism (1680). His pocket watch chimed the hours and quarters in sequence using a combination of hammers and bells. In the latter part of the 18th century, Abraham-Louis Breguet conceived the gong spring, an arrangement that’s employed in most minute repeaters today. Using two gongs and two hammers, the mechanism indicates the hours, quarters and minutes.
The minute repeater was conceived in an era pre-dating ‘luminescenz’, a term attributed to German physicist Eilhard Wiedemann in 1888. The minute repeater was a practical solution to the scarcity of street lighting.
Since the 18th century, minute repeaters have changed very little but the reasons for acquisition are now very different. Once selected primarily to fulfil a functional need, the motives for acquiring a minute repeater in today’s lume-treated world are based on the inordinate amount of horological charm the complication confers. A minute repeater is the manifestation of peerless craftsmanship and extraordinary watchmaking expertise.
Ultimately, the experience of awakening the hammers and hearing the time is a pleasure that needs to be witnessed to be fully appreciated.
Rare watchmaking expertise
Creating the complex parts within a minute repeater and then assembling them requires the skills and patience of a trained watchmaker. And not just a regular watchmaker, but a highly proficient, top-flight watchmaker capable of delivering a virtuoso performance each morning before the starlings have commenced a rendition of the dawn chorus.
In the rarefied world of Haute Horlogerie, minute repeaters live alone, occupying the highest ground, where the air is exceedingly thin. A. Lange & Söhne, the über-prestigious Manufactory from Glashütte inhabits this esoteric domain, crafting high complications and minute repeaters.
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk decimal minute repeater
Unusually, the Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk is a mechanical digital watch that displays the prevailing time via discrete apertures. The German marque has taken this iconic model and added a minute repeater but not a traditional minute repeater, a decimal minute repeater. Rather than chime a sequence of hours, quarters and minutes, the decimal minute repeater chimes the hours, tens and units. This makes much sense as the wearer reads the hours, tens and minutes from left to right while simultaneously hearing the gongs and hammers, positioned dial-side, proclaim the time in crisp tones. It’s so logical and so wonderfully Lange.
The Zeitwerk decimal minute repeater was first released in 2015 to widespread critical acclaim. Initially, the model was only available in platinum, but in 2020 the watch firm released a white gold variant with a sublime blue dial. Recently, Lange released the Zeitwerk decimal minute repeater in 18-carat Honeygold. This patented alloy is said to be ‘harder than other gold alloys’ and, according to the brand, it exhibits a warm hue ‘ranging between pink and white gold’.
How does a minute repeater work?
The aforementioned gongs are typically made of steel and are usually shaped by hand. The steel is repeatedly heated and quenched. This protracted process, which can take several days, is somewhat shrouded in mystery as brands jealously guard their trade secrets. For example, it has been known for some companies to quench gongs in horse urine to achieve the best sound. Temperatures and times are additional variables that can influence the resultant sound the gong makes. The two gongs are positioned in close proximity, typically one above the other, but they never touch. They are affixed to the case with a ‘heel’ or ‘plot’. The interior of the case is optimally designed to accentuate the sound.
Usually, the chiming sequence begins with a low-pitched tone for the hours, while a combination of both hammers striking the gongs (high and low tones) indicate the quarters, with each strike spaced slightly apart, and then, lastly, high tones for the minutes.
Three snails are connected to the motion works, one for hours, one for quarters and, finally, a third for the minutes. The snails interact with racks and wheels, telling the hammers how many times to strike the hours, quarters and minutes. To ensure the hammer strikes are optimally spaced apart, the movement features a centrifugal governor. This spins silently to avoid spoiling the chiming performance.
In the case of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold, the movement has three snails but they are configured for hours, tens and units. The snail for the usual quarters has four teeth while, in the case of this decimal minute repeater, the snail for the tens has six teeth.
Minute repeater safety
With most minute repeaters the chiming sequence is initiated by pushing a slide, typically located on the left flank of the case which energises a spring serving the striking mechanism. The only potential flaw with most minute repeaters is that if the minute repeater hasn’t completed the chiming sequence before the slide is actuated again, some of the aforementioned intricate components can become damaged, necessitating costly repairs.
Further costly repairs may be needed if the wearer alters the indicated hour and minute hands during the chiming sequence. However, A. Lange & Söhne has endowed its movement, the manufacture calibre L043.5, with various ‘safety and blocking mechanisms’ preventing the sequence from being prematurely interrupted and causing harm to the complex arrangement of racks, snails and wheels.
The German marque has also added a safeguard that prevents the wearer from initiating the chiming sequence when there is less than 12 hours of power reserve available. Lange has marked the power-reserve indicator with a red dot to inform the wearer that there is a lack of fuel within the tank. When the repeater is chiming, the switching action of the date discs is delayed and the crown is locked. By preventing the wearer from pulling out the crown during the striking sequence, the risk of harm to the movement is further mitigated. Moreover, once the chiming sequence has finished, the hour and/or minute disk will immediately advance.
Constant Force Escapement
The ‘regular’ A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk is equipped with a constant force escapement or remontoir d’égalité. When the hours, tens and units discs advance, they draw a notable amount of energy from the barrel. If left unchecked, the force from the barrel, ultimately serving the escapement, would fluctuate significantly, adversely affecting rate stability. For this reason, the ‘regular’ Zeitwerk has always been equipped with a constant force escapement ever since it first appeared in 2009. The remontoir d’égalité pulses the escapement once per minute, causing said discs to instantaneously jump.
When the chiming sequence on a minute repeater is actuated, it again draws power which can adversely affect rate stability. Some brands address this by fitting a dedicated barrel for the chiming mechanism. In the case of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold, the presence of a constant force escapement obviates the need for a separate barrel, hence one lone barrel ably fulfils all time-telling duties, visual and audible. Unlike a regular wristwatch, the presence of the constant force escapement always ensures the force from the barrel serving the escapement will remain consistent irrespective of the power held within the barrel until it becomes depleted of energy.
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold dial
Paradoxically, despite the complexity of the Zeitwerk decimal minute repeater, the dial, which is formed of silver and dressed in a suit of grey clothes, appears seemingly simple.
The time bridge unites the eastern and western regions of the dial with the hours shown via an aperture positioned to the left and the minutes proclaimed via an aperture located to the right. The minutes are indicated using two discs, one for tens and a second for units, working in collaboration to deliver a masterful choreographed performance. The hour and minute discs advance instantly within the blink of an eye.
A small seconds display resides in the lower portion of the dial and is enriched with snailed detail. A combination of Arabic numerals, a chemin de fer and a lone gold hand impart meaning. In the upper region of the dial, a power-reserve indicator indicates the amount of energy held within the barrel. The movement, the manufacture calibre L043.5, features one barrel containing two mainsprings. As stated previously, when the gold hand arcs left, heading towards ‘Ab’ (down), it passes a red dot along the way. At this point, the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold turns off the chiming mechanism, conserving the remaining energy solely for the visual time indications.
The pièce de résistance is the gong and hammer arrangement, positioned front of house. While many marques choose to position the mechanism to the rear, hidden from view, Lange has indulged mechanically curious souls with the spellbinding vision of the hammers performing a sonorous recital.
Unlike most gongs which are circular, the gongs fitted to the decimal minute repeater are eccentrically shaped, curling around the small seconds display and time bridge. The gongs are polished to a resplendent gleam, a task that will be made all the more protracted due to their intricate shape.
Upholding the no-compromise traditions of Haute Horlogerie, the hammers are black polished. This form of decoration, unquestionably the most challenging to execute, involves polishing parts on a zinc plate smeared with diamond paste. The zinc plate is perfectly flat and free of any imperfections that could scratch a component. The black polishing is time-consuming but the resultant part will exhibit a comely mirror-like finish.
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold case
At this juncture, you will have ascertained that the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold is, mechanically speaking, very complex. Nevertheless, despite the watch playing host to an intricately engineered movement, it is not unduly bulky.
The Zeitwerk decimal minute repeater measures 44.2 mm in diameter with a height of 14.1 mm. While it is hardly diminutive in stature, the watch is not a leviathan either. Lange has intelligently placed the crown at 2 o’clock, tucked away to allow the wearer’s wrist to flex without chafing. Likewise, the pushpiece for actuating the chiming sequence is positioned at 10 o’clock, again aiding wearer comfort.
The interior of the housing and the material from which it is made heavily influence the sound generated by the hammer and gongs. Anthony de Haas, Director of Product Development at A. Lange & Söhne, has described the sound produced by the HoneyGold case as somewhere between that of pink gold and platinum.
A. Lange & Söhne is synonymous with restrained styling and doesn’t subscribe to the notion of conspicuous consumption. For example, in this instance, the polished bezel and lugs sit in concert with a brushed caseband, while the exhibition caseback is framed with a slender, understated circlet of brushed gold.
A. Lange & Söhne calibre L043.5 – additional comments
Consistent with other Lange references, the manufacture calibre L043.5 features a three-quarter plate. This approach provides a more stable means of construction than using numerous bridges.
Formed of untreated German silver, the movement does not require any form of plating to prevent corrosion, instead the material simply acquires a becoming patina over time. Unfortunately, German silver is challenging to work with. One wayward fingerprint and the part has to be removed and painstakingly cleaned.
The movement is fitted with a variable-inertia balance, a form of regulation that involves using inertia weights affixed to the balance wheel, on this occasion positioned in-board, to alter the rate. Compared with the ubiquitous index-regulated balance, the variable-inertia balance proffers superior precision. Furthermore, should the watch be subjected to a shock, it is less likely to require remedial regulation.
Sat atop a hand-engraved balance cock, a whiplash and micrometer screw provide an elegant means of addressing a beat error. The whiplash is again black polished.
Part of the joy of owning a Lange is having the opportunity to scrutinise the finely finished movement at close quarters with a loupe in hand. The aforementioned three-quarter plate is decorated with Glashütte ribbing, the mainplate is embellished with perlage and anglage is much in evidence. Moreover, thermally blued screws abound, gold chatons pay a deferential nod to the past and mirror-polishing makes a repeat performance again and again.
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold – closing thoughts
It is very hard not to fall under the spell of this ticking masterpiece. It enunciates the time with a clear display and audible notes. The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold is highly functional but overflows with emotion.
The brand from Saxony repeatedly juxtaposes mechanical virtuosity with a degree of creativity befitting an art gallery. I adore the sound of the chiming mechanism and the logic of the Zeitwerk’s display but it is the protracted execution of this watch that probably elicits the most words of undying love to leave my lips. Throughout the composition of this watch, one is reminded of the adroitness of the craftspeople involved and the expertise of the watchmakers who assemble and regulate this exceptional timepiece. Indeed, looking at the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater HoneyGold and appraising its specification with an informed eye proves very illuminating but then again, that’s where this story began.
Further reading
https://www.alange-soehne.com/
Technical specification
- Model: A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater Honeygold
- Reference: 147.050F
- Case: 18-carat HONEYGOLD®, diameter 44.2 mm, height 14.1 mm, sapphire crystal to the front and exhibition caseback
- Functions: hours and minutes with precisely jumping numerals discs, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds, striking mechanism with decimal minute repeater, power-reserve indicator
- Movement: Lange manufacture calibre L043.5, hand-wound movement, frequency 18,000 vph (2.5 Hz), contains 93 jewels, power reserve 36 hours (when fully wound if the striking mechanism is not activated), 771 components
- Strap: hand-stitched dark brown leather with deployant buckle in 18-carat HONEYGOLD®
- Price on application