Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar 'Lumen' Watch
A. Lange & Söhne traces its roots to 1845, when Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded his manufacture in the Saxon town of Glashütte. Decades of communist nationalization effectively extinguished it, until his great-grandson Walter Lange relaunched the brand just days after German reunification in 1990, setting a standard the house has spent every year since trying to surpass. The Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar "Lumen," unveiled at Watches and Wonders, may be the clearest expression of that ambition yet. Its 950 platinum case measures 41.9mm across and 13mm thick, housing the new in-house Calibre L225.1, a self-winding movement of 685 components with a 50-hour power reserve. The semi-transparent sapphire dial admits UV light to continuously charge the luminous compounds beneath, so the outsize date, retrograde day-of-week display, and moon phase with a 24-hour day/night sky simulation all glow after dark in a hierarchy of light rather than a uniform wash. All calendar indications switch instantaneously, and the perpetual calendar won't require its first manual correction until March 1, 2100. The tourbillon cock and intermediate-wheel cock are hand-engraved with stars and a shooting star. Limited to 50 watches.
