Additions to the classic family

German watchmaker A.Lange & Sohne continues its tradition of creating precision timepieces. At this year's SIHH the company unveiled its third timepiece in the Richard Lange family, the Richard Lange Pour le M?rite.

The watch is named after the company's oldest son who had a fervent enthusiasm for precision watchmaking, and its fus?e-and-chain transmission observes the tradition of the pocket chronometer as a precision timekeeping instrument.

The Richard Lange family also has watches that are specifically dedicated to greater precision in time management, and the Richard Lange Pour le M?rite is the second model in this group. The first watch with the same name was dedicated to the tradition of scientific observation of watches and is regarded as a model of accuracy. The new variation comes with a platinum or pink gold case. Its enamel dial is constructed from three parts, each piece the result of 30 elaborate processes. The watchmaker's classic blue-steel hands feature on the dial next to black Roman numerals and small red Arabic numerals.

The newest A. Lange & Sohne 1815 model pays tribute to the company's founder, Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who was born in that year. The watch is a model of simple and classic timepieces, a three-hand watch with a manually wound movement. This new model has a larger case (40mm) and a new movement, the calibre L051.1. Its three-quarter plate (originally introduced by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in 1864 and designed to enhance the stability of movements) is made of untreated German silver and features a hand-engraved balance cock. It has a power reserve of 55 hours.

The solid silver dial features a railway track minute scale, Arabic numerals and Lange's characteristic blued-steel lancet hands.

The watch is available in yellow gold, white gold or pink gold; a limited edition of 500 pieces is available in platinum.

The Lange1 watch, characterised by its iconic design with an off-centred dial, asymmetric face and technical details was pivotal in A.Lange & Sohne's revival when it launched in 1994. It has become the flagship of the watchmaker's catalogue, and there have been two new additions to the series.

The first is the Lange1 Time Zone which is now available with a pink-gold case and grey dial. The off-centred dial, twin mainspring barrel with a power reserve of three days, and the outsize date familiar to the Lange1 series all feature.

The time zone function has an adjustment mechanism to swap the home time displayed on the large dial with the zone time shown on the subsidiary dial.

Also new is the Lange1 for Night Owls. This version features superluminova-coated gold hands and a solid silver dial with off-centred time. An outsized date, another characteristic of the series, is also featured. This new model has a white gold case.

Fusee-and-chain

The fusee-and-chain transmission compensates for a declining spring force, keeping the torque constant for the extent of the power-reserve period. In most watches a mainspring barrel manages the drive function, but the Richard Lange replaces this with a mainspring barrel and an adjacent tapered fus?e. A chain made up of 636 parts connects the two; one end is attached to the fus?e, the other end is attached to the spring barrel. Essentially, the chain helps provide a balanced level of power released from the mainspring. The fus?e chain is included in the watchmaker's hand-wound calibre L044.1. The movement is engraved by hand. The watch has a power reserve of 36 hours.

A. Lange & S?hne reserves the Pour le Merite distinction for exceptional complications.