A. Lange & Söhne

foversta
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5 Whirlwinds from Lange

I propose you a few pictures and comments about 5 Tourbillon watches from Lange. A nice way to browse Lange history!

Amongst these 5 watches, 3 deserve to wear the PLM reference, 3 are totally LE, 1 was produced in SS (single watch), 1 has a five days power reserve, 3 feature the stop-Tourbillon system. All of them have the two diamond endstones and handwind calibers.

The beginning of the story, maybe the most iconic watch from Lange, the Tourbillon PLM:



The pictured watch is a rare WG version:



Gunther Blumlein wished with this watch to clearly put, from the beginning, Lange at the top of the hill of the high-end brands. If Lange is considered now as a main player in this segment, the role played by the Tourbillon PLM is key. This watch is also the result of the friendship between Blumlein and Papi. Another symbol.

The Tourbillon PLM was a LE of 50 pieces in PT, 150 in Gold... and one was created in SS.



The Lange 1 Tourbillon was re-issued in the context of the Ferdinand Adolf Lange Homage Collection. But the latest version is slightly different from the original one. If we forget the specific decoration of the collection, the new Lange 1 Tourbillon features a larger opening of the dial to make the Tourbillon more visible and the stop-Tourbillon system which was introduced with the Cabaret Tourbillon.

We may think that the presence of the second hand is due to the stop-Tourbillon system. We are wrong: this small second hand was already used by the first Lange 1 Tourbillon. Let's say that due to the small opening, it was better to have this second hand to improve the readability even if the Tourbillon does a full revolution every minute.







The Lange One Tourbillon "F.A.Lange" is a Limited Edition of 150 pieces (Honey Gold case). The first Lange One Tourbillon was a Limited Edition of 150 in PT and 250 in PG.

The Cabaret Tourbillon was the only Tourbillon from Lange, before the presentation of the PG Richard Lange Tourbillon which was not sold through a Limited Edition. It features the stop-Tourbillon system to allow the owner of the watch to set the time with accuracy. Frankly speaking, I don't like this watch. Its size is too large for a rectangular watch making it too bulky. The harmony of the simple Cabaret is sadly lost. Moreover, the watch seems to have a low gravity center as the bottom of the dial is much more busy than the top. It is due to the date mecanism which obliged to put the two subdials below the centerline.

Even if the watch was technically impressive, it failed to really seduce the Lange fans. Maybe because that Blumlein was so proud of the perfect proportion of the original Cabaret case that it was almost an impossible mission to change it with success. Who knows? Perhaps my point of view about this watch will change in the future.

You clearly notice one of the two diamond endstones of the Tourbillon which can be found on each and every Tourbillon watch at Lange:



The Cabaret Tourbillon is the only watch at Lange to have a power reserve between the 3 days of the Lange 1 and the 31 days of the Lange 31 (5 days).




The Tourbograph is the most superlative watch from Lange. It is also a project desired, thought by Blumlein and again, Giulio Papi was involved in the creation process. It combines a Tourbillon with a chaîne fusée system and a Chronograph with rattrapante. The Tourbograph is the only Lange chronograph with the Double-Split to have a 3hz frequency. 51 Tourbograph were initially produced (50 with PT case + 1 for Dubail with gems setting) + 50 in the context of the Ferdinand Adolf Lange Homage Collection (Honey Gold case).







And of course, we finish this small walk on the Tourbillon track with the Richard Lange Tourbillon. As I often say, the Richard Lange Tourbillon is the crossroad between 3 worlds: accuracy (the Tourbillon), stability (the chaîne fusée system) and kinematic (thanks to its animated dial). It is a paradoxical watch because it creates a trouble (the large bridge over the Tourbillon) and it tries to compensate for it (the purpose of the animated dial is to make the Tourbillon more visible). It is the only Lange watch to have a regulator dial. The Platinum version is a LE of 100 watches.



The unique dial of the Richard Lange Tourbillon:







The Tourbillon is a very important complication in the Lange history. From the Tourbillon PLM to the Richard Lange, it contributed a lot to the excellence of the Manufacture from Saxony. A Lange Tourbillon is not a mere Tourbillon. Even the two watches (Cabaret and Lange 1) which don't have the chaîne fusée system are much more complex than they seem to be at first sight. The wish from the Lange team  to add a stop-Tourbillon or a chaîne fusée system gives the proof that the Tourbillon for them is much more than a magic complication... which many times is considered as useless in a wristwatch. The Tourbillon has here a real horological purpose.

It is the reason why I think that Lange would highlight even better the quality of its Tourbillons by publishing chronometric results and by commit ithemselves to an ambitious accuracy range.

Fr.Xavier
This message has been edited by foversta on 2011-08-10 15:11:35