One-minute tourbillon with stop seconds, black enamelled dial and artisanal finishes, enclosed by a 38.5-millimetre platinum case – these are the salient features of the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON HANDWERKSKUNST to commemorate the anniversary of a timepiece that became the style-defining ambassador of A. Lange & Söhne, it is being presented in an edition limited to 20 watches. 

On the occasion of the 20th birthday of its brand icon, the LANGE 1, A. Lange & Söhne is introducing a special 20-watch edition of the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON with the epithet “Handwerkskunst”. Its extraordinary hallmarks include exquisite manifestations of craftsmanship in probably unprecedented combinations.

The black enamelled main dial sets the perfect stage for the mirror-polished hour markers as well as the matching hands in rhodiumed gold. The tourbillon cock, finished with the challenging specular polishing technique, is one of the key style elements of this watch. The black solid-silver subsidiary dial for the seconds is slightly recessed into the main dial. The contour of the aperture for the tourbillon has meticulously polished chamfers. The numerals of the Lange outsize date are grey on a black background.

The lavish decorations of the calibre L961.3 manufacture movement deserve the attribute “Handwerkskunst” in every respect. The solarised three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver has generous cutouts that reveal the identically decorated twin mainspring barrel. The tourbillon bridge, crown-wheel and intermediate-wheel cocks are elaborately engraved with a technique that sculpts the motifs out of the material. Seven screwed gold chatons as well as two diamond endstone bearings for the tourbillon constitute the finishing touches. The diamonds are traditional hallmarks that Ferdinand Adolph Lange once introduced to highlight the premium quality of his pocket watches.

In 2008, more than 200 years after the tourbillon was invented, A. Lange & Söhne’s product developers succeeded for the first time in reliably immobilising the balance wheel inside the rotating tourbillon cage. Finally, timepieces with tourbillons could be stopped and set with one-second accuracy. The patented stop-seconds mechanism is also integrated in the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON HANDWERKSKUNST.

A stately platinum case with a diameter of 38.5 millimetres protects the artisan-crafted masterpiece. This exclusive collectors’ watch will be unveiled within the scope of an international press conference in Dresden on 24 October 2014. The presentation of the first Lange new-era collection took place 20 years ago on the same date.