A. Lange & Söhne

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Lange Pour le Merite quartet on display in Singapore July 13-19

From 13 to 19 July the quarter of Pour le Merite watches will be on display in Singapore at L'Atelier by The Hour Glass at ION Orchard mall. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see them all together along with the latest RL PLM tourbillon regulator.

- SJX

Press release: 

Four Legendary “Pour le Mérite” Masterpieces on a Journey to Asia

Since 1994, only four exceptional complications of A. Lange & Söhne had the honor
of bearing the “Pour le Mérite” title. It represents the highest German order of merit in
the fields of arts and sciences. To commemorate the launch of the RICHARD LANGE
TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite”, the latest addition to this prestigious collection, the
venerable German watchmaking manufactory gathers its entire “Pour le Mérite” family
for an exclusive studio exhibition in Singapore.

First unveiled at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, the
RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite” now joins its equally illustrious pre­

decessors: LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite” (1994), TOURBOGRAPH “Pour le
Mérite” (2005) and RICHARD LANGE “Pour le Mérite” (2009). Watch connoisseurs in
Singapore will have the chance to get up close and personal with this distinguished
quartet from 13 July to 19 July 2011 at L’Atelier at ION Orchard, a luxury watch
boutique which is managed by Singapore’s foremost watch retailer, The Hour Glass.

The title “Pour le Mérite” was first instituted by King Frederick William IV of Prussia in
1842 at the instigation of the famous explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Today, the
title continues to be bestowed upon great scientists and artists, and their creations.
Needless to say: Only the most exceptional A. Lange & Söhne complications that boast
unparalleled handcrafted precision, mechanical innovation and artistic values have
been conferred this esteemed suffix.

The defining feature of an A. Lange & Söhne “Pour le Mérite” timepiece is its fusée-
and-chain transmission system, which ensures constant force to the movement
regardless of its winding state and power reserve. The system also features a
planetary gearing that assures uninterrupted and constant transmission of energy even
when the watch is being wound. Historically found in rare 19th and early 20th century
pocket and marine chronometers by A. Lange & Söhne, the fusée-and-chain system
can be traced to a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, which dates back to the beginning of
the 16th century.

Since its first “Pour le Mérite” timepiece, A. Lange & Söhne has featured the fusée-and-
chain transmission on its own (as in the RICHARD LANGE “Pour le Mérite”), as well as
with other complications (as in the TOURBOGRAPH “Pour le Mérite” with one-minute
tourbillon and rattrapante chronograph, and the LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite”

with a tourbillon mechanism). In this year’s RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le
Mérite”, the system is paired with a tourbillon and a patented stop-seconds mechanism.

The star of the exhibition, the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite” has its
roots in a regulator pocket watch created by the watchmaker Johann Heinrich Seyffert
(1751-1817) from Saxony. The original watch dial features three intersecting circles for
the time indications and a fusée-and-chain mechanism in its movement – all winning
attributes that have been incorporated into the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour
le Mérite”. Just as astounding visually, the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le
Mérite” sports an ingenious switching mechanism, which allows the watch to expose
its tourbillon cage via a round cut-out window, and cover the exposed segment at the
appropriate time segment as the hour hand traverses over the temporary aperture.

For those who are keen to delve even deeper into the timepieces, A. Lange & Söhne
presents the newly published “Pour le Mérite” book, an impressive tome authored by
the founder of the Lange Owners Group, Peter Chong, which charts the inner-workings
and impact of the celebrated timepieces.