A. Lange & Söhne

Greetings to all!  Seems that there is DS Fever in the air recently -- and I am certainly a victim myself.  For those who are interested, here are my impressions after several weeks of ownership and wearing, in my usual "love -- not sure -- don't love" format.

 What I love about this watch:

1. That monumental movement!  No surprise there, I suppose.  Adding more to the 1815/Dato style underlying structure seems like using the Mona Lisa as the background for a collage, but I'll take it!  Some folks don't like that ALS takes a "vertical" approach to building these movements, but I'm fine with it -- and it's wonderful fun seeing all of those levers and wheels click when you push the various buttons.  Like a city under glass, and the movement finishing is both divine and varied:

2.  Let's start with the functional aspects: the Double Split mechanism that made this piece famous: split seconds and split minutes, extending the range of lap and event timing functionality substantially

3. Great pusher feel.  Friends of mine who are experts on this rave about the pusher feel on this watch, and to me the actuation is even better than on my Dato, which is really saying something

4. Instantaneous chrono minutes jumping at the top of the minute, for both the main and rattrapante chrono minutes hands.  A great feature, and on this watch Lange does it not once, but twice

5. Flyback function, including the feature that allows you to hold down the flyback button, keeping the timer stopped until the moment at which you choose to re-release the button and re-start the chrono.  Also, if the rattrapante hands are stopped, the flyback function only operates the main chrono hands

6. "Fly-past" action on the rattrapante hands -- if you watch carefully, you can see them zap past the main hands before swinging back and locking into place.  Lots of fun to watch, and likely reduces wear and tear on the movement

7.  Incredibly precise returns on all hands -- whether it's the reunification of the rattrrapante hands to the main hands, or the snapping of the hands back to zero, done perfectly with no dramas

8. Smooth manual winding -- not quite as effortless as on the Dato, but quite nice nonetheless, helped by the meaty winding crown

9. Dial layout -- lots to like here, starting with the classic bi-compax arrangement of the major subdials:

10. Symmetrical sub-dial arrangement, with the diamond-shaped cutouts on the ends of the chrono seconds hands swinging cleanly over the axes of the running seconds, chrono minutes, and power reserve hands

11. The "hidden" main chrono hands that appear when the rattrapante is in play are an attractive matching gold

12. Dial appearance is pleasingly "busy" -- to me, a hallmark of the Lange look.  I'm not that much a fan of some of the more recent dial looks from Lange -- this one, with the tachymetre and 5-minute scripts, looks great to me

13. The applieds -- Romans and batons.  To quote my friend tahoeblue: there is no instance in which applied Romans don't look great!

14. Hand shapes (with one reservation, to come later) -- very classic

15. Lume, both on the hands and on dots at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 minutes.  It's not the world's brightest lume (much dimmer, for instance, than that on my Dato) but I do like having lume on a chrono.  I also like the way that ALS integrates the lume lots into the ends of the applied batons in a way that isn't obvious to the eye

16. And, of course, this watch has the iconic Lange black/silver chrono dial look.  I'm cheating here to mention something that "people in general" love rather than something that I love personally, but it is kind of cool to have a watch with this look:

17.  Power reserve -- very useful to have (see later for some reservations on this)

18. Massive (and I do mean massive) platinum case

19.  Brushed sideband on the case.  On my RG Dato, I like that the sideband is polished -- but on a PT case, particularly of this size, I think that the brushed sideband adds a bit of restraint and is in keeping with the overall character of the watch

20. Other pleasing structural elements of the case: the laser etched words and numerals in relief on the caseback; the solid pusher shapes; the solid (and very functional) curved lugs

21. OK, now here's the surprising point: it is very comfortable to wear!  I can hear you now: "but isn't it really heavy?  Doesn't it sit high on the wrist?"  All that I can say is that it feels great and sits really well on my relatively small, but flat-topped wrist.  It helps a lot, I think that I'm right on one of the holes in the strap, so that the watch is neither too loose nor too tight as it sits.  I'm telling you: this thing feels great on -- go figure

22. Speaking of the strap, I like it as well -- the standard Lange strap is well made, supple, and has that nice rounded end that feeds nicely through the buckle and keepers

23. The tang buckle.  I'm a deployant guy, but I do like this tang -- it is made so that it doesn't crimp/deform the strap too much, it's easy to use, is made of PT rather than WG as on some other brands, and with the tang buckle it's oh-so-easy to get a great view of that movement

24. This model is now discontinued!  So no worries about huge quantities flooding the market (not that there are that many of this piece in the market to begin with)

25.  Last (and maybe least) -- it makes my RG Dato look elegant (almost dainty) by comparison:

So -- a lot to like!  Let's move on to the next category: Things I'm not sure I like so much:

1. The main chrono hands (seconds and minutes) are different colors.  I know that the backgrounds are different (black vs. silver), and that this is a Lange thing (cf. the chrono hands on the Dato, also different in color from each other)

2. The size of the power reserve subdial and hand.  In pictures, the subdial and hand really look undersized -- the good news is that in the metal, the effect is more pleasing -- but still not ideal for me

3. Legibility of the main hour/minute hands.  At times, it can be difficult to pick them out against the background; and given that the main goal is to read the time, this can be an issue!  As on some other watches, this depends a lot on the angle of incident light on the dial

4. Brightness of the lume (see above)

5. The depth of the "canyon" in which the movement sits, and its thick walls.  I know that it's a tall movement, but especially with the thick case surround in the back, it seems to be sitting quite far back from view.  By contrast, the Dato movement seems almost to burst from the back of the case

6.  At least on my example, the chrono hand jumps pretty significantly upon initiation.  I know that this isn't a Piguet 1185 with its vertical clutch, but perhaps a movement adjustment will be in order at the next service

7.  Yeah, OK, the watch sits very high on the wrist (although the lugs help a lot).  It still feels great to wear, though!

Now here are the bits I don't love about this watch:

1.  The yellowish subdials -- I would prefer that they be more of a pure silver in appearance

2. The 3 Hz movement -- for me, a chrono should ideally be one-fifth (like the Dato) or one-tenth (El Primero) second, or in a pinch one-eighth -- but one-sixth seems unnatural.  It does result in a smoother-looking progression of the chrono seconds hand than on the Dato, but the idea of one-sixth really isn't to my taste.  As a related point, I prefer the larger balance wheel on the Dato as well

3. The blue AR on the crystal.  When you own a black-dialed watch, you want to see black, not blue or some chromatic aberration! 

Finally, a few things that would be on my wish list in the ideal world:

1. Make this watch with a big date instead of the power reserve -- a DS Dato would be stunning!

2. Too bad they only made 5 of the Sincere version of this watch with the all-black dial -- I would far prefer that look, I think

3. Would be great to have both deployant and tang buckles as standard with this watch

If you are still with me, thanks for reading this far!  Obviously all opinions put forward are solely those of the author -- happy to hear differing views.

All the best,

Gary G

An owner's point of view is always a great  and interesting read, as tyou live with for some time, now, while most of us just saw some pics, or were lucky enough to see it in the flesh.

Like you, I would be very pleased if the power reserve was replaced by the date.

And personaly, I would have preferred a slightly smaller size, and a thinner case.

Mechanically speaking, nothing to say, I doubt someone here could bring some bad points to this monumental movement.

Now, to say that I would prefer it to the Dato... When I owned the Dato, I wastempted to sell it to fund the DS...

I didn't do it, because of the size  and thickness of the case, and also because of the power reserve, which disturbed me a bit.

Still, I don't know any other Double Split.... A briliant offer from Lange, without any doubt.

Best,

Nicolas.

Sometimes it is the small things that turn us from one watch to another!  I think that you have captured your thought process well in your note -- thanks for the thoughtful response.

Best,

Gary

Thanks Gary for this "report"

It's always difficult to find a return of experience from a watch, especially this kind of rare timepiece. As many of us do, I have many questions about some DS issues (weight etc ...) and this post is a real gold mine.

I fully understand what your points are and agree with most of them : it's funny as I have exactly the same feeling as yours concerning the yellowish subdials. I found it less obvious on the DS than on the Dato PT though, may be a question of lights at that time.

Above all it's a fantastic timepiece you have here and I know you'll take care of it ^^

HAGWE

Mark

I will do my best to take care of this piece!  As I've purchased it used I'm already thinking about when I should have it serviced...

I appreciate your note.

Best,

Gary

The Double Split has always been my dream watch..

I totally agree with you on what you said about the dial and the movement..

The dial is a really balanced and I love how Lange put the arrangement of every aspect of it, like the sundials, the tachymetet, PR indicator.. To me it's busy but in a really nice way

And on the movement, it is, at least to me, the most beautiful architectural movement.. I've never seen anything quite like it before...

Thanks for sharing this wonderful post Gary

Best,

Sam

I think the DS has some of the most amazing movement I have ever seen....
Thanks again for the pics Gary!

Cheers,
GG

while still pursuing my passion for panerai

Hopefully one day mate!

Best,

Sam

I hope that you get a DS some day!  I can certainly understand that a Panerai fan would be drawn to this watch -- it has a large size for sure, but at the same time is really balanced, like the Panerais (IMHO).

Best,

Gary

But it's the balance of the dial and the whole watch...

And who can resist such a superbly designed and decorated movement...

It is such an incredible machine Gary! I'm really enjoying it even though just from your pictures

And I really enjoy your very detailed comments, feedback, and point of views!

Great post!

Wear it in best of health my friend!


Best,


Sam

But I don't share your point of view about the replacement of the power reserve by the date.

I much prefer as it is.

If you add a date system, the DS would become even more thicker than it is. And I don't think it would be a good idea.

Morover, it would look really like a bulky Datograph. At least, with this different dial, it is less obvious to compare their aesthetics. Different purposes, different approches, different frequencies... different dials.

Fx

I was ignoring the practicality (even thicker case) when I was fantasizing about adding the big date!  I agree with you that this should not just be a "big Datograph" -- it's just that I find myself using the date function on my watches more and more these days (a factor of advancing age?) and have gotten to love the big date on the Dato.

I have to say that as of today if I had to choose between the Dato and DS, I would probably keep the DS -- which is quite an endorsement given how fond I am of the Dato.

Thanks again for your post.

Best,

Gary

enjoyed the pics as well!

thx for sharing

J

As you say, they are only my opinions -- I love to hear others' views and am under no delusions that I am correct in all of my thoughts!

Best,

Gary G

First of all,congrats Gary on the catch! Didn't know you got yourself one, and with it being discontinued, all the more right!

Thanks for the bravo photos, always soo good and especially when you are taking the DS, it becomes even more heavenly!

All your points there are very good, nice analysis.

Love the way you talk about the Platinum case, and the tang buckle! Indeed, what could be a better tang feeling than Lange's tang?

Would not have it any other way.

And the weight of that, as much as i love carbon fibers and Alusic, there's nothing that beats the heft and purity of Platinum!

Tschuss and enjoy yours for a long long time to come!

Stephen

It's funny -- when I sit down to write one of these posts on a new watch, it seems that there will be nothing much to say -- then, as I start building the list, it seems to go on and on! 

The Lange tang buckle is a good example of this -- it's easy to let a buckle (especially a simple one) escape notice, but I was struck at how well this one sits on the wrist and how its box-section design allows the strap to pass through without crimping.

I'm sure that there's a team at Lange who spent a lot of time thinking about this design, and it shows!  Glad I could highlight some features that may be less obvious.

Best,

Gary

Enjoyed your frank & objective owner's POV; I wouldn't have found any negatives at all!

Those pics. are just fantastic!

cheers

fernando

There aren't too many negatives that I could find!  Sometimes it's best to put one's reservations out in public rather than trying to convince yourself that they don't exist, I suppose.  Even now as I'm looking at the dial I find that I'm liking the "yellowish" sub-dials better than before.  I suppose that confession is good for the soul!

Best,

Gary

Comprehensive post, with fabulous pics to boot.

...on our wrists to make it fit, though! 

Thanks for the kind words and, as always, for your great encouragement as we pursue this hobby of ours.  I'm now a Lange fan!

Best,

Gary

It's a great time to reflect on what's to like and not like about the DS after having worn it for a few weeks! And we all learn from you sharing your experience with it!

Good to see that the LIKE list is multiple-fold longer than the UNLIKE list

You've got yourself THE Chronograph there and I'm happy to see you have so much enjoyment out of it! I'm also hoping to one day add a Lange chronograph to my collection (although not the DS).

Last but not least! Awesome photos as usual! I like that comparison shot with the Dato... you're right, the big boy Dato does become a baby beside the DS

It is funny -- the DS looks a lot bigger side by side, but in isolation it looks perfectly "correct" in size on the wrist, as does the Dato.  A real tribute to Lange's ability to build pieces that have the right proportions. 

I had the same impression when I tried on a Dato Perpetual for the first time recently -- very different proportions, but they really worked.

Sadly, for me the Zeitzone (a watch that I otherwise adore) seems a bit too wide for its depth on my wrist -- not that I may not end up with one!

Thanks again for your kind comments, especially on the photos -- I'm back to my "tabletop studio" in my rented apartment in Seoul, which makes photography a little tougher...

Best,

Gary

BTW: I agree, it does seem to sit a little high.

Cheers,

--

Richard.

...and not just in the sense of "you get used to it" like living near the elevated train tracks.  The watch sits so well on my wrist that it doesn't flop around when I move -- as a result, all I get is a feeling of real solidity.

There is a bit of "getting used to it" nonetheless, I'm sure.  At the moment I'm wearing the DS on the left and Dato on the right (it's a holiday here in Korea so I'm working from my apartment, hence able to indulge in such silliness).  The RG Dato, obviously a much lighter piece, actually seems heavier on my right arm (I'm sure due to the fact that I never wear a watch on that side).

In some ways perhaps DS vs. Dato is a bit like 12-cylinder Ferrari vs V-8 -- I prefer the more substantial piece in both cases.

Thanks for the question!

Best,

Gary G

Let me start off by saying that I am wearing my DS right now. This message has been edited by amerix on 2011-08-15 05:42:46 This message has been edited by amerix on 2011-08-15 06:12:31

what appeared as blue is now black. Whichever - both look great with platinum!

The "swing-past" phenomenon seems particularly in evidence when the main chrono hands are still running -- it looks as if the rattrapante hands go past the main hands, and then quickly settle into place. Less visible when the main chrono has been stopped. I hope this isn't a problem, but instead a clever design feature!

As far as the jumping on startup goes, that I think just requires an adjustment of the tolerances between the two wheels.

The "yellowing" of the sundials is very even and reminds me of the slight patination one gets with German Silver, or perhaps the slightly yellowish cast of white gold. It's only yellow in comparison with the stark white of the PT case.

I agree with you on the color distinctions between the hands -- but I'm not sure how much can be done with that black background.

The two of us are indeed fortunate to have and enjoy these pieces! Thanks very much for your posts.

Best,

Gary

This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2011-08-15 07:55:40

Thanks for your note! I'm no enemy of slower beat movements -- in fact I prefer the 2.5 Hz of the Dato to the 3 Hz of the DS, for the simple reason that I prefer a stopwatch that measures either fifths or tenths of a second. I'd own a Duometre today if it weren't calibrated in sixths of a second. But that's just my hang-up...

Believe me -- to find a watch about which I love 25 distinct features and have reservations about only a few is a triumph! I have a tough time getting the DS off my wrist these days, and for many very good reasons.

Best,

Gary

Your DS is soooo NICE, I honestly love it