A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Moon Phase “25th Anniversary” – Round Six

The never-ending birthday party of the Lange 1 receives its sixth celebratory watch, the Lange 1 Moon Phase “25^th Anniversary”. As the ambassador of the Saxon brand, the Lange 1 is being regaled with ten very special watches, unveiled one by one on a monthly basis until October 2019. Gift-wrapped in the same silver and blue colour scheme as the five preceding models, this is the second moon phase model in the anniversary line-up but with a twist. 

Celebrating the quarter century of the Lange 1

Like all the previous birthday presents, the Lange 1 Moon Phase is a limited edition watch (25 pieces) decked out in a white gold case with blue details on the dial and special decorative flourishes on the movement. The complete birthday package is comprised of 10 watches and kicked off with this classic Lange 1 with a hinged caseback, followed by Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase, the Little Lange 1, the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar (the most complex model so far) and the Lange 1 Time Zone.

This anniversary is modelled on the 2017 Lange 1 Moon Phase, which in its day received a new movement (calibre L121.3) for the day/night indication incorporated into the moon phase indication.

The omnipresent moon

Whether you can see it or not, our celestial neighbour is always with us. At night, and depending on the current phase, the Moon stands out against the dark sky. In the daytime, the Sun usually manages to outshine the Moon and hide her from our eyes, but she is always there. A. Lange & Söhne wanted to portray the Moon’s ubiquitous presence with this model and depicts the Moon during the daytime, against a bright blue sky, and at night, against a dark blue sky dotted with silver stars. Not just a poetic interpretation, this dual representation doubles up as a day/night indicator, a useful indication when setting the watch.  Like all Lange moon-phase models since their introduction to the collection in 2002, the precision of the cycles of the Moon is impeccable and will only need a one-day correction in 122.6 years.

A study in blue

The white gold case is the same as the 2017 model and measures 38.5mm with a height of 10.2mm, the kind of vital statistics that will sound like music to the ears of purists. The layout of the dial has not been touched and features the classic off-centred configuration and the emblematic Lange outsize date. As the sixth member of the exclusive Lange 1 anniversary editions, certain details on the solid silver agenté-coloured dial have been tweaked to set it apart from the regular fare. The hour, minute, subsidiary seconds and power reserve hands are all thermally blued, the numerals are blue, the letterings on the dial are blue, the numbers of the date window are blue (notice the date is set at 25) and the night and daytime skies of the moon phase function are also picked out in different tonalities of blue. Although the press pictures only show the starless daytime sky with a white gold moon rising on the left, we are pretty sure that the darker night sky will also feature the lovely laser-cut stars of its predecessor.

In a departure from the existing model, all the luminescence has been stripped off the hands (hours, minutes and power reserve). Even the small luminous dots above the hour markers are now blue, and the tiny triangular markers of the power reserve gauge are depicted in red and blue. As you would expect, the accompanying alligator strap is also blue with a solid white gold prong buckle.

Anniversary engravings on movement

Turning the watch over reveals the German silver three-quarter plate decorated with Glashütte ribbing and the hand-engraved balance cock. Just like the other “25^th Anniversary” models, the balance cock is specially engraved with blue accents along with the number ‘25’ to remind you of the auspicious occasion. The manual-winding calibre L121.3 is a derivation of the generic Lange 1 calibre L121.1 of 2015. The 70 additional parts (total 438 components) for the moon phase and day/night indicator were integrated into the movement in such a compact manner that the watch is only 0.4mm thicker than the L121.1.  Endowed with a twin mainspring barrel (hence the word Dopplerfederhaus printed on the dial) for a 72-hour power reserve, the escapement runs at a frequency of 3Hz (21,600vph). Like all Lange watches, the watch is assembled not once, but twice!

The Lange 1 Moon Phase “25^th Anniversary” is a limited edition of 25 watches and its price is EUR 43,300. More information at alange-soehne.com.