WALTER LANGE has completed a feat he did not think possible 15 years ago - rebuilding the watch brand bearing the name of his forefathers.
The A. Lange & Sohne factory was started by his great-grandfather, Adolph Lange, in Glashutte, Saxony, in the early 1840s. It was passed down to his grandfathers and his father, and then it was destroyed by Russian bombers during the second world war. It was later expropriated when the communists took control of east Germany.
Walter Lange fled to the west penniless. His first attempt to rebuild A. Lange & Sohne with his brother failed. He worked as a watchmaker in Germany and later set up a watch wholesale business, making connections with leading watch companies such as IWC. However, secretly he despaired that the hope of reviving the glory of A. Lange & Sohne might never be realised.
When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the passion to revive the brand was reignited, and the watchmaker emerged from retirement to find the backing to restart the family business.
Through his connections with IWC - which was then owned by LMH (Les Manufactures Horologie, which also owned Jaeger-LeCoultre) - he found a supporter with great respect for Glashutte's watchmaking masters who was willing to back the revival efforts.
'It didn't take long to convince them, but it was a big risk to invest because no one knew if it was going to work,' Mr Lange said.