A. Lange & Söhne's technical director, Anthony de Haas, is a tall, powerfully built man with linebacker's shoulders, famous for both his technical prowess and self-deprecating sense of humor.
A. Lange & Söhne’s technical director, Anthony de Haas, is a tall, powerfully built man with linebacker’s shoulders, famous for both his technical prowess and self-deprecating sense of humor. We’ve listened to a number of his SIHH presentations, and over the years, heard him respond, “wait and see,” innumerable times to a question even he must have long since gotten fed up with answering: when is Lange going to make a repeater?
As the years went by, the question kept coming up but the answer never changed –until this year’s SIHH, when A. Lange & Söhne stunned its fans with the announcement that it hadn’t just made its first repeater –it had included the minute repeater complication in the most complicated wristwatch it had ever made. That watch is the A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication, a 50mm behemoth into which Lange & Söhne has placed every major high complication known in classical watchmaking.
As regular Haute Time readers know, though “grand complication” is applied today to many varieties of complicated watches, traditionally the term was reserved for a watch that contained the top three most challenging traditional complications: a minute repeater, a rattrapante (split seconds) chronograph, and a perpetual calendar. Lange & Söhne’s Grand Complication fills the bill –and then some.
It includes not only a minute repeater, but also a full-on grand et petit sonnerie (grand and small striking of the hour and quarters en passant, with hours, quarters, and minutes striking on demand via the repeater; the sonnerie can operate in grand strike, small strike, or silent mode.) Also present and correct is the rattrapante chronograph, operated by a single push piece; the chronograph, in addition to having the traditional, central elapsed seconds chronograph hand and overlapping split time hand, is also fitted with a 1/5th second foudroyante (sometimes referred to as a jumping, or lightning, seconds hand) which advances in 1/5 second jumps. The foudroyante hand resides in the lowest of four sub-dials, along with the display of the age and phase of the moon, and, finally, the watch contains a perpetual calendar which is designed to advance all indications simultaneously at midnight.
The balance vibrates at 18,000 beats per hour –a classic, pocket-watch cadence, and the escapement is a variation on the lever known as the “Glashütte lever,” –the escape wheel and lever are made of hardened 18 carat gold. The fired enamel dial is made of five separately manufactured and decorated parts –a work of art in itself. Each of the components in the movement –calibre L1902 –is, of course, hand-finished to the highest standard. The price of this watch naturally reflects its complexity and the extremely high level of skill necessary to manufacture, assemble, and adjust its components, but for a certain breed of connoisseur –and you already know who you are –it will be an indispensable addition (if you can reserve one; only six, in all, will be made.)
The A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication is offered in pink gold only; case, 50×20.3mm. Perpetual calendar, grand and small strike with silent mode; minute repeater; split seconds chronograph with 1/5 second foudroyante hand; display of the age and phase of the moon. Price available upon request to A. Lange & Söhne; availability limited to a total of six pieces worldwide.
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