A. Lange & Söhne Reveals Two Highly Wearable Complicated Pieces

Yes, that’s a mouthful, and yet, somehow it still maintains that quality and readability. Let’s unpack these details.

First introduced in 2010, Lumen is composed of a dial coated with a smoked material that blocks most visible light but allows UV rays to pass through, charging the luminescent coatings on the components below. Unlike traditional luminous watches, Lumen pieces glow in areas normally hidden. The smoked dial treatment also creates and equally interesting visual effect by day, giving the watch a deep and moody vibe.

We first saw A. Lange & Söhne employ Lumen in the Lange 1 line in 2013 with the Grand Lange 1 Lumen. Since then, we have seen the evolution in the flagship collection with the Grand Lange 1 Moonphase Lumen in 2016.
 

Now, a decade later, we get the next Lumen addition to the Lange 1 family. Here, the material handsomely highlights the Maison’s signature off-center dial configuration as well as a pair of grand complications: a tourbillon with a stop-seconds and a perpetual calendar with a peripheral month ring and instantaneously switching displays.

While asymmetrical, the dial design respect’s A. Lange & Söhne’s belief in geometric principles to enhance readability. You’ll notice the displays are arranged in the form of an isosceles triangle. An imaginary vertical line connects the outsize date, retrograde day-of-week display, seconds hand, and moon phase display, which is the first luminous moon phase with an integrated day/night indication in the Maison’s catalog.
 

Then, the center of the hour and minute display marks the tip of the triangle. Contrary to conventional constructions, the months are displayed on a rotating circumferential ring. In addition, the leap-year display is in a small aperture at 6 o’clock.
 

The tourbillon is more subtle. On the dial side, there’s a small inscription at 12 o’clock, but flip the watch over, and you’ll see the mechanism through the sapphire caseback. While mesmerizing, it also ensures the ultimate precision. Here, the stop-seconds device allows you to immediately halt the balance within the tourbillon cage by pulling the crown. This makes it possible to set the watch with one-second accuracy thanks to a sophisticated and patented construction with a V-shaped arresting spring.
 

In contrast to the dark and brooding dial and rich black alligator leather strap, the crisp platinum case adds a bit of brightness. The themes of contrast and legibility extend to the heartbeat of the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Lumen: the newly developed, highly complex manufacture calibre L225.1. Here, polished light surfaces alternate with matted, darker ones.
 

The rotor also adopts the design principle of color contrast, implemented in the dark, black-rhodium central segment and the lighter surface of the centrifugal mass.

Joining the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Lumen are two iterations of the Saxonia Annual Calendar. Here, you get a new self-winding movement and an impressively compact 36mm case design allowing these complicated pieces to serve perfectly as daily wears.
 

Once again, legibility and effortlessness remain at the core, with the most important information (the time and date) easy to read at a glance thanks to traditional central hour and minute hands as well as A. Lange & Söhne’s trademark outsize date. This readability is particularly clear in the rose gold version thanks to the contrast of the warm metal against a grey backdrop.

Moving on, the auxiliary dial at 9 o’clock displays the day of the week, and its counterpart on the right-hand side shows the current month. Then, framed by the seconds display, is the gorgeously rendered moon phase at 6 o’clock featuring a deep-blue coating process with the 428 stars, including a miniaturized image of the Milky Way.
 

Powering the pair of Saxonia Annual Calendars is a new self-winding movement, the calibre L207.1. Here, you have a unidirectional winding central rotor with a centrifugal mass in 950 platinum as well as a classic screw balance that operates at a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour. When fully wound, the mainspring barrel assures a maximum power reserve of 60 hours.