I thought I would make a post of Lange's, Richard Lange, what Lange describes as an Observatory Watch for the wrist. This is a 3 handed watch but has much to offer. According to Lange there were 2 objectives for the Richard Lange watch family: precision and legibility. I believe they achieved this with the Observatory watch. The silver dial with the roman numeral markers along with the outer markers broken down to the 1/5 of o second are crystal clear and even with my old eyes very easily read. They marked every 5 seconds and on the 15/30/45/60 mark in blue while the others in black. The Hands are blued in great contrast with the silvered dial giving great legibility, one of their objectives. Their 3/4 plate movement is like looking at a piece of art, with the precision of the Glashutte ribbing and the use of gold chatons attached to the plate using blued screws. The balance cock is hand engraved making each on just a little different. It has an indirect sweep second and the sweep second hand is rock steady and I see no signs of a tension spring a testament of precision and good engineering. Lange also crafted their own balance spring to improve on their accuracy. All this I believe gives them their objective of precision. To set the time you pull the crown out and the sweep seconds hand is stopped thus allowing an acute method of setting the time. The 40.5mm case is made out of 18k white gold, with polished lugs and bezel, the case sides are brushed giving nice contrast.
What are your thoughts on the diameter? Looking at the rear of the watch, it seems as if it could have been 2mm slimmer, but that may have made the height/diameter relation less elegant? 40.5mm with a stark white dial and slim bezel makes it too big for me - luckily I cannot afford it
At 40.5mm it's a little on the large size for me, I would have preferred 39mm. With that said the movement is 30.5mm which doesn't leave to much space left over. That plus the concept of it being an observatory watch the size does enhance the legibility. My pictures are not the best but the dial is more to the silver color than the white. I think you are correct about the height/diameter ratio, what it is now is very appealing to me.
I agree. I prefer the traditional looking dial over the asymmetrical layouts with odd sub hands strewn about and big date windows. to me this is more in line with German styling...stark and straight to the point. pure class.
Agree, more like the Bauhaus style, plus it goes along with what the observatory watch is all about...an accurate and legible timekeeper. Definitely not frills.
Funny you say that because 36mm is my favorite size but on this watch I think it would be too small. Perhaps 39mm???
This is a spectacular watch, and is rapidly rising on my list of favorite Lange’s. Lange doesn’t craft their own balance spring for all of their watches, do they?
I am not sure but have read they make their own mainsprings in house. I know they do for the RL line but cannot say for the rest.