By Love Blomquist

I always felt that Vacheron Constantin deserved to stand in the limelight that its more notorious rival Patek always has. After all, there’s not that much difference between the identities of the two brands: high end conservative stylings with a sport model or two (the Nautilus and the Overseas respectively). Patek just happens to be considered the end-all be-all in the luxury watch world, while VC vies for attention from prospective buyers of brands like A. Lange & Söhne, Breguet and so on. While certainly not a poor market segment to be in, I hope the Richemont-owned company further elevates to the timeless status that Vacheron Constantin deserves.

Notably, another characteristic that sets VC apart from Patek is its willingness to produce timepieces that are a little more, shall we say, out there. Whether or not this is beneficial with regard to the brand’s identity (wicked tongues will tell you that Rolex’s success is mainly due to more or less staying the same for decades) is hard to tell, and time will probably do such. As it stands today, the only thing you really can do is judge the more eccentric offerings by themselves.

Luckily, they are a feast for the eye. A prime example is the Malte Tourbillon that turned up on JamesList just last week. Sporting a hand-wound 1790R caliber, this rose gold tonneau beauty features a tourbillon bearing the Maltese cross, the symbol of Vacheron Constantin. Its diameter is only 36mm but obviously wears a lot larger because of the art deco shape. The in-house movement has a power reserve of 45 hours

http://blog.jameslist.com/2010/james-pick-vacheron-constantin-malte-tourbillon/

Here is the watch on Iconic Watches for a closer look …

www.iconicwatches.co.uk

A. Lange & Söhne Watch Company

Ferdinand A. Lange was a fine watchmaker from Dresden, Germany. In his humanitarian quest to give the people of Glashütte jobs and uplift the economic status of the town, he established a modest watch factory that initially set to train up 15 apprentices in 1845. Lange’s passion and dedication to his craft resulted in high quality watches, this continued until his death in 1868, where his sons Emil and Richard operated under the father’s name A. Lange & Söhne. Richard Lange was a fine horologist just like his father and during his time with the company his most important discovery was patented.  The patent was for “Metal Alloy for Watch Springs” in which beryllium was added to the metal used for balance spring. This eventually resulted in the creation of the Nivarox balance spring that is used in most high end mechanical watches today.

Under Richard Lange the company flourished and had a further 27 patents.  However by the time the company entered its third generation, Lange & Söhne had already endured both WW I and II.  It was with the destruction of the Lange factory during WW II and the subsequent division of Germany that tragically brought a 40-year hiatus to the company.  Walter Lange, a fourth generation Lange, re-founded and re-established A. Lange & Söhne on December 7, 1990; exactly 145 years after his great-grandfather first founded it.

With just a skeletal force A. Lange & Söhne came out with a new set of Lange watches four years later. The first collection of wristwatches was the Lange 1, the Saxonia, the Arkade and the Tourbillon “Pour le Mérite”.

To pay homage to the 165^th year of A. Lange & Söhne, the collection Homage to F.A. Lange Edition has the Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite”, Lange 1 Tourbillon and the 1815 Moonphase.  The unique aspect to these pieces is a special honey-gold metal alloy used for the anniversary timepieces.

How exclusive are these time pieces?

The Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” “Homage to F. A. Lange” is a limited edition of 101 pieces. As of this writing there are only currently 51 pieces made. The completion of the next 50 pieces will take a while to finish since the manufacture of this timepiece takes a month to finish.

The Lange 1 Tourbillon “Homage to F. A. Lange” is perfection in motion. This anniversary timepiece has a patented stop-seconds mechanism allowing the owner to stop the balance at any point. For better visuals, the tourbillon aperture in the dial is expanded.

The 1815 Moonphase “Homage to F. A. Lange” is also in 18 karat honey-colored gold. This watch needs no resetting as long as the watch runs without interruption and is set to the correct time. The moon phase of this timepiece would have to be eventually corrected by one day, after 1058 years.

The 1815 MOONPHASE “Homage to F. A. Lange” in 18-carat honey-colored gold is an impressive demonstration of how Lange’s master watchmakers interpret accurate time measurement: provided the watch runs without interruption and remains set to the correct time, it will take 1058 years before the moon phase of this masterpiece needs to be corrected by one day.

To date  A. Lange & Söhne has several collections: Lange Zeitwerk;  Lange 1; Saxonia;  1815; Richard Lange;  Datograph; Cabaret;  Double Split; Langematik Perpetual; Lange 31 and  Jeweled timepieces.

What makes A. Lange & Söhne watches stand out are the company’s ability to merge the traditional elements with innovative technology. Every  A. Lange & Söhne watch has the following traditional elements: whiplash precision index adjuster; hand-engraved balance cock; screwed gold chatons; up/down power reserve indicator; a ¾ plate;  untreated German silver;  blued screws; fusée and chain and the diamond endstone.

A. Lange & Söhne is now under the wings of Richemont group of companies. In 2007 the company released a mechanical watch with a 31-day reserve.  The watch only needs to be wound monthly by a special key.  The 46 mm wide and 16 mm deep platinum and rose gold watch is modestly priced at $180,000.