A. Lange & Söhne Has The Blues

Watches in recent years have been bathed in color and by far the most popular of all has been blue in its many hues. Not to be left out, A. Lange & Söhne has produced four of its models with deep-blue solid-silver dials: The Lange 1, Lange 1 Daymatic, Saxonia and Saxonia Automatic.

Outside of the color of the dials, these watches are identical to the current models available. The blue chosen for the dials is close to ultramarine, a deep blue color that during the time of the Renaissance was one of the rarest, most expensive, most sought after and the most difficult to produce. The pigment that produced the gem, lapis lazuli, was once only available in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. The name ultramarine comes from the Latin ultramarinus, which literally means “beyond the sea,” because the gem had to be brought to Europe by Italian traders during the 14th and 15th Centuries. It was used sparingly by artists of the period and only for the most important symbols of the time, such as the blue robe on the Virgin Mary.

It remained an extremely expensive pigment until a synthetic ultramarine was invented in 1826. Today, the color blue is everywhere and for good reason. As part of a recent study on gender norms by the University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen, it was discovered that blue is by far the most popular color for men and women.

The watches in the four “Blue Series” models also share white gold hands and markers, creating a striking contrast with the blue dial, and hand-stitched dark-blue alligator leather straps with white gold prong buckles.

Two of the watches have manually wound movements (Lange 1 and Saxonia) and the other two are powered by automatic movements (Lang 1 Daymatic and Saxonia Automatic). As is expected of all A. Lange & Söhne watches, all of the movements are made in-house and showcase the German watchmaker’s quality hallmarks, from the artisanal finishings of all parts to the twofold assembly process. The edges of all plates, bridges and cocks are chamfered and then polished to a mirror shine. And of course there’s the A. Lange & Söhne signature hand-engraved balance cock, with the classic whiplash spring.