A. Lange & Söhne bring their usual Saxon charm to a pair of releases that scream of refinement and elegance. They include a new white gold, salmon dial edition of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds and a sleek platinum and black enamel 1815 Tourbillon. While they’re from separate collections with the Lange stable, their strong designs make them a great pair together.
A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds
The A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds is a regulator style watch that sees the hours, minutes and seconds displayed on separate subdials. However, unusually it places the greatest emphasis on the seconds indication by giving it the largest portion of the display while the hours and minutes are smaller. The overlapping layout is inspired by Chronometer No. 93 crafted by Johann Heinrich Seyffert, an 18th-century watchmaker from Dresden. Though it does make me want to use it as a Venn diagram.
The reason for putting the seconds as the focus is because they are the clearest way to display the three mechanisms that make the watch special. First and foremost is the titular jumping seconds mechanism. Another term for this is deadbeat seconds, where the seconds hand moves only once per second instead of the constant sweep we are familiar with in mechanical watches. Creating a precise and regular impulse to move the hand consistently the correct distance in an instant is very difficult. That’s why the second of the watch’s special elements comes into play.
It’s equipped with a constant-force escapement. A constant-force mechanism essentially regulates the amount of energy being released by the movement so that there is little or no fluctuation in power or torque even as the total amount energy begins to decrease as the power reserve gets lower and lower (you can tell when it enters its final 10-hours as the triangle between the hours and minutes turns red). It ensures that every tick of the seconds hand has the same force behind it regardless of how low the power reserve is, which is very important given the strain on components in a jumping calibre. Lastly, it’s also equipped with a zero-reset mechanism, putting the seconds hand to zero so it can be restarted precisely.
However, all of this is true of all the previous editions of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds as the model made its debut almost a decade ago. What’s new about this edition is its fresh salmon colourway. And I mean salmon in the official sense of the colourway because it has been paired with a platinum case and in watchmaking the term salmon applies to a silver-tone case with a copper or pink dial because it looks like a salmon fillet with the silver skin.
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A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon
The 1815 collection is where Lange explored classical concepts in a more modern style. Though let’s be honest they’re still very classical. For 2025 they’ve introduced a new interpretation of the 1815 Tourbillon. Previously the main colour of the dial has been white with black accents and for this release that has been reversed.
It now features a black Grand Feu enamel dial with a high polish finish which looks almost like onyx in its clarity and precision. It’s the same technique as they used on the Minute Repeater Perpetual from earlier this year, evidently becoming one of the styles of choice for 2025. Which makes sense because it looks great.
While the updated dial and platinum case are lovely, the eye can’t help but be drawn to the titular tourbillon at 6 o’clock. The aperture is wide, giving you an unparalleled view of its inner workings as it rotates like a ballerina. The delicate gold components catching the light while above a seconds hand marks each passing moment against the railway seconds track. The watch has a zero-reset mechanism that puts the seconds hand to zero, enabling precise setting. Certainly the coolest and most contemporary interpretation of the 1815 Tourbillon to date.
Price and Specs:
More details at A. Lange & Söhne.
