Remember the oohs and aahs that greeted the Grand Lange 1 “Lumen” back in 2013? Remember how it was such a big deal? For those who don’t, it was big deal because the luminescent watch dials which we all take for granted were suspiciously absent from many classic luxury timepieces. And the watches from Saxon watch maker A. Lange & Söhne were among them. Yes, Super LumiNova, an ingredient that comes as defacto standard on many a modern watch dial was, for the longest time, not used by “classic” watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne.
And that’s because Super LumiNova is a cheat. That was the whole point of the minute repeater. They didn’t have luminous materials back in the day so historic watchmakers had to find a solution to the impending (and inevitable) darkness in a purely mechanical manner! By resorting to chimes and gongs! Not by “painting” watch hands and indexes in glow-in-the-dark lume! Where would they even have sourced the material anyway? And if they had, the historic watchmakers probably would have been burned at the stake for witchcraft! And that’s why A. Lange & Söhne didn’t want to have anything to do with it for, like, forever. Until 2013 that is.
“Featuring all of the quality highlights of an A. Lange & Söhne timepiece, the manually wound calibre L095.4 is elaborately finished and assembled twice.”
To be fair, 2013 wasn’t the first time the brand had released a “luminous” watch. It all started with the Lange 1 for Night Owls watch, the name alluding to the fact that the watchmaker finally acquiesced and used SOME lume so that the not-a-minute-repeater-watch could finally be used at night. But the people wanted more. And more came in the form of 2010’s Grande Lange 1 Luminous watch. Now THAT was a luminous timepiece with a design that was totally dedicated to the theme. This time, the Saxon watchmakers spared no expense in their foray into luminosity, incorporating the luminous aspect into the Grande Lange 1 Luminous watch right from conception. And yet, people still wanted more. Enter the Grand Lange 1 Lumen of 2013, a watch that took the enlarged aspect of 2012’s Grand Lange 1 and turned its lights out, only to turn it back on in the most delightful way.
The Grand Lange 1 Lumen was endowed with a platinum case and a stunning dial that, coupled with the GRAND LANGE 1’s “unique” assets, such as the off-center dial configuration, the outsize date, the three-day movement, made for an ultra-sophisticated watch, absolutely swimming in ingenuity and elegance. And that still was not the ace up A. Lange & Söhne’s sleeve. That ace came in the form of a new semi-transparent sapphire crystal dial that partly exposed the “ingenious” mechanism of the first luminescent outsize date display by the German watchmaker.
Why? Because the technical challenge during the development of the GRAND LANGE 1 Lumen was to ensure maximum luminosity, not just for the hours, minutes, and power reserve indicators, but also to the outsize date, a display with elements that are almost always completely covered by the dial. And they did this by using a semi-transparent dial through which UV light could pass.
This year, A. Lange & Söhne took that concept and threw in a healthy dose of 2014’s Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase to come up with the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase “Lumen,” a watch that, for all intents and purposes, makes one feel like howling at the moon.
First off, the dial of the new model is made of blackened silver with ample apertures of black-tinted, semi-transparent sapphire-crystal glass. Like the original Lumen model, the special coating applied to the glass blocks out most of visible light with the exception of the UV spectra that “charges” the luminous pigments on the outsize-date mechanism which causes them to glow in the dark. The tens cross is coated with a white luminous compound and printed with black numerals. Conversely, the units disc, also featuring black numerals, is made of transparent glass and rotates in front of the luminous background of the date aperture.
Further, the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase “Lumen” is different from Lange’s previous moon-phase models with solid-gold lunar discs in that the new watch has a disc made of glass. Initially, its surface is treated with the same patented coating process. Then, a laser is used to cut out 1164 stars and the moon. Thanks to the luminous compound behind the lunar disc, this insures that the stars absolutely shimmers with the most vibrant radiance.
Featuring all of the quality highlights of an A. Lange & Söhne timepiece, the manually wound calibre L095.4 is elaborately finished and assembled twice. The three-quarter plate made of untreated German silver is decorated with Glashütte ribbing and sets a dramatic stage for the seven screwed gold chatons. A classic screw balance with a free-sprung balance spring crafted in-house assures excellent rate accuracy. While the large mainspring barrel delivers power for 72 hours. And as always, once properly set, the moon phase display only needs to be corrected by one day every 122.6 years.
If all that wasn’t enough, the new Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase “Lumen” is a limited edition of only 200 pieces to be released worldwide. If that isn’t captivating enough to keep you up at night, the dial of this new watch probably will.
