Introducing The A. Lange & Sohne Richard Lange Tourbillon "Pour le Mrite," Now In White Gold (Live Pictures, Pricing)

September 25, 2014

Guten Tag again! A. Lange & Sohne sure is on a special-edition roll. We recently brought you the Langematik Perpetual in white gold, and were happy to say that the Richard Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mrite is getting the same treatment. These new editions are exciting because they give us another chance to take detailed looks at what makes these watches great. So, lets look on. Firstly, the dial is argent-colored solid-silver. This creates a noticeable contrast to the blued-steel hands and virtually flawless printing of the overlaying subdials. The case, in?finely polished gold with curved lugs, measures in at 41.9 mm by 12.2 mm. Some might think it too wide, but the design actually lives up to the model's lineage. The layout of the subsidiary dials is such that they are centered on the corners of an isosceles triangle.Heres an abridged Lange history lesson. In late-18th-century Dresden, Johann Heinrich Seyffert was known as a principal pioneer of Saxon watchmaking. Langes design was influenced by Seyffert's Chronometer No. 93, which famous scientists and excursionists like Alexander von Humboldt relied upon. The best part of this dial is the subsidiary hour on the bottom right. Note the patented dial segment between VIII and X. At the intersection of the lower two dials, you'll notice something interesting: thats not one, but two dials. The portion between VIII and X is only visible when the hour hand is between 6 and 12 oclock. At all other times, that portion of the dial isnt there C allowing the tourbillon to be showcased in its full glory. Lange patented this pivoting dial-segment underneath the hour subdial. Here, the dial segment is out of view, allowing full observation of the tourbillon. Speaking of mechanisms, the manufacture caliber L072.1 is a manually wound, hand-assembled art piece that can beat for 36 hours at 21,600 vph. It has a patented stop seconds mechanism that allows precise setting. It also has a fuse and chain transmission.As logic dictates, the mainsprings power is very high when its fully wound and very weak when its unwound. Going from wound to unwound (more power output in the beginning and less power output toward the end) results in obvious fluctuations in accuracy. What the fuse and chain transmission aim to do is equalize the force of the mainspring throughout the duration of its unwinding C thereby giving the movement a constant quantity of energy, and keeping the watch running at a continual rate. How does it do this, you ask? The fuse is a cone-shaped object with helical grooves on its lateral surface (smaller cone at the top, and larger at the bottom). A fully wound spring will tug at the top of the cone. A less wound spring will eventually tug at the bottom. Thus, as the spring grows weaker, the lever grows longer. Another series of rivets, levers, and blockers ensure that the fully wound and fully unwound state are blocked, thereby securing only that harmonious, constant middle. This is no easy task C the movement has 351 parts, and the chain has 636 with a cross section measuring in at 0.6 by 0.3 mm.?The only thing better than knowing these facts is witnessing them; and you can, because Lange has carved the three-quarter plate of untreated German silver to make these mechanisms visible. The rest is finished to standard Lange perfection, from a hand-engraved balance cock to a diamond endstone that functions as a bearing for the tourbillon. We love few things more than gathering around a fireplace to endlessly nerd out over Langes perfection. However, in true nerdy spirit, there is one question wed like to ask Lange. Gazing around this model (and other models of theirs that weve recently shown you), we read things like in fnf [5] lagen reguliert, ein [1] diamond, einunddressig [31] rubine, and veir [4] kugellager. Whats up then with the Made in Germany? Perhaps an inscription reading in Deutschland gefertigt or in Glashutte gefertigt would satiate our OCD. Just a humble thought!Semantics aside, the real news is that this special edition of the Richard Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mrite is now being presented exclusively in A. Lange & Sohne boutiques C most importantly those boutiques recently inaugurated with this and other timepieces in New York City and Moscow. Retail will be $212,900 USD. For more information, visit A. Lange & Sohne online.