A. Lange & Söhne Celebrates Its 15-Year Partnership with the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este

Starting next weekend, running May 15 to 17, the 2026 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este not only serves as a particularly fashionable start to the summer’s car concours season, but also represents a long-standing foundational moment for Saxony watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne’s unrivaled involvement, commitment, and partnerships with globally important displays of impeccable historic motorcars – and their uncanny relationship to wrist-worn mechanical marvels.

Beyond Villa d’Este, the watchmaker will be a sponsoring partner for the UK’s Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace, from September 4 to 6 (a relationship coming up on 10 years), and the Audrain Newport Concours d’Elegance & Motor Week (the partnership began in 2023) from October 1 to 4 this year.
 

A bona fide classic car collector in his own right, A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid had this to say about his company’s commitment to the Villa d'Este concours and support: “As we enter our 15th year of support for Concorso d’Eleganza, we reflect on a conviction that we share with this community: exceptional mechanical creations – distinguished by a rare combination of heritage, design, and craftsmanship – that depend on people who devote the time and effort required to preserve them. These same values define Lange watchmaking, and what gives me tremendous confidence is seeing so many newcomers arrive in recent years with that same conviction, and with the passion to carry it further still. This makes Villa d’Este, as well as our other Concours d’Elegance partnerships around the world, exactly where we want to be.” 

If you are planning to attend, you can get some more general insider tips via our Villa d’Este preview from last year, but rather than recap the obvious and abundant appeal of Lake Como in the spring, let’s take a drive back to some of the highlights of Lange’s own “Italian” history.

As a concours partner, A. Lange & Söhne has traditionally awarded a special timepiece to the “Best of Show” winner each year. But no award moment more bombastically exemplified an appreciation of the watch and classic car worlds colliding than when designer Ralph Lauren received a customized, unique piece execution of a white gold Lange 1 Time Zone when his 1938 Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic coupe took the top prize in 2013.
 

Call it a case of two “yetis”: The unique timepiece placed Lake Como as the home time focus instead of Berlin, and a customized case back made this one-of-one watch decidedly Ralph’s own. Furthermore, only four Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic cars were reportedly produced between 1936 and 1938, and only three are known to still exist. Mr. Lauren is famously the owner of one of them.

The term “tour d’elegance” generally refers to what is often a concours show’s opening event, during which participating cars are driven and paraded for review for the eager crowd.

In 2017, however, Lange sponsored a more dramatic (and grueling) riff of a “tour d’elegance.” Instead, during that year’s Villa d’Este show, Select show cars and owners were invited on a 500 km, Alps-crossing drive from Munich to the shores of Lake Como, creating a dramatic sunset arrival moment.
 

If you followed our A. Lange concours coverage last season (if not, you can catch up on The Lounge by Watchonista), you already know that the watchmaker used a few of these classic car shows it partnered with as opportunities to release special novelty timepieces via their “Best of Show” award watch.
 

We saw a unique Zeitwerk Date in rose gold debut at the Concours of Elegance in Germany last July. Then, in September, both a deep black-enamel version of the 1815 Tourbillon and a pink-gold dial on white gold execution of the technical Richard Lange Jumping Seconds arrived in style at the UK’s Concours of Elegance Hampton Court.
 

Meanwhile, two executions of the elegant Saxonia Thin timepieces, one in 950 Platinum, one in proprietary 750 Honeygold, were the novelty timepiece highlights of October’s Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week in the United States.
 

The 2025 Villa d’Este show did not include such a special reveal, but hopes are running very high for a first-for-the-show novelty announcement from the watchmaker this year. Rest assured, Watchonista will be on hand to share those details with you.

You can also rest assured that Watchonista has been invited to “ride shotgun” with A. Lange & Söhne over its concours-partnership season, from Italy, to England, to the US, to provide an up-close perspective on the happenings, both automotive and horological.

To learn more about the watchmaker’s dedication to classic cars, visit this dedicated page.