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Lot Essay
Unveiled to the press in late 2012, the platinum ‘Grand Lange 1 Lumen’ was the first production of the new generation of ingenious high-luminosity Lange wristwatches. Highly collectable and now much sought after, examples are rarely seen at auction. The present watch, in superb condition and with full set of accessories is a prime specimen of this hard to find model, ideal for the exacting collector.
Since its introduction in 1994, the ‘Lange 1’ has become immediately recognizable as one of the foundation models of the re-established brand after East and West Germany were re-united in 1989. The Lange outsize date was the first very large date display to be developed for a mechanical wristwatch. It comprises two separate discs that provide a date display of about three times the size of most other wristwatches. The present watch is an example of one of the recent and most unexpected Lange & Söhne releases which was debuted at SIHH in 2013 – the ‘Grand Lange 1 Lumen’, Lange’s very first wristwatch to have a luminous date display. Only available cased in a platinum case with a 40.9 mm. diameter and made in a limited edition of 200 pieces, the model transformed and updated the image of the Lange 1, bringing to it an ultra-modern and powerful contemporary aesthetic yet retaining the classic styling and layout of the original Lange 1.
The new, solid silver dial with transparent sapphire crystal segments is specially coated to block most of the visible light spectrum except electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths between 100 and 380 nanometres - commonly known as UV light, which is not visible to the human eye. The hands, hour and minute markers, date and power reserve indications are coated with SuperLuminova, a material that luminesces in the dark once activated by either sunlight or artificial light.
The semi-transparent construction of the dial allows the luminous material of the date disc to be charged in its entirety so that even the hidden parts of the disc are charged.
As expected from Lange, the finish and construction of the movement is exceptional. The manually wound hand-decorated Lange calibre L095.2 offers 72 hours of power reserve, the plates and bridges are made of untreated German silver finished with perlage and Glashütte ribbing, it has 42 jewels, 7 in screwed gold chatons.
Since its introduction in 1994, the ‘Lange 1’ has become immediately recognizable as one of the foundation models of the re-established brand after East and West Germany were re-united in 1989. The Lange outsize date was the first very large date display to be developed for a mechanical wristwatch. It comprises two separate discs that provide a date display of about three times the size of most other wristwatches. The present watch is an example of one of the recent and most unexpected Lange & Söhne releases which was debuted at SIHH in 2013 – the ‘Grand Lange 1 Lumen’, Lange’s very first wristwatch to have a luminous date display. Only available cased in a platinum case with a 40.9 mm. diameter and made in a limited edition of 200 pieces, the model transformed and updated the image of the Lange 1, bringing to it an ultra-modern and powerful contemporary aesthetic yet retaining the classic styling and layout of the original Lange 1.
The new, solid silver dial with transparent sapphire crystal segments is specially coated to block most of the visible light spectrum except electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths between 100 and 380 nanometres - commonly known as UV light, which is not visible to the human eye. The hands, hour and minute markers, date and power reserve indications are coated with SuperLuminova, a material that luminesces in the dark once activated by either sunlight or artificial light.
The semi-transparent construction of the dial allows the luminous material of the date disc to be charged in its entirety so that even the hidden parts of the disc are charged.
As expected from Lange, the finish and construction of the movement is exceptional. The manually wound hand-decorated Lange calibre L095.2 offers 72 hours of power reserve, the plates and bridges are made of untreated German silver finished with perlage and Glashütte ribbing, it has 42 jewels, 7 in screwed gold chatons.