THE SINGULARLY BEAUTIFUL LANGE & SÖHNE SAXONIA DUAL TIME
Lange & Söhne is perhaps less a household name than some other top-shelf houses of fine watchmaking, but given its small annual production of gorgeously finished and precision engineered timepieces (it’s located not in Switzerland, but in the German town of Glashütte, just outside Dresden) collectors wouldn’t have it any other way. The company, which represents one of German watchmaking’s proudest traditions (Ferdinand Adolphe Lange set up his workshop in Glashütte in 1845) rocked the watchmaking world with its iconic Lange 1 wristwatch, which it launched when it resumed watch production in post-reunification Germany in 1994. Though the Lange 1 remains its most recognizable watch Lange & Söhne has since gone on to demonstrate its mastery of watchmaking at every level of complexity.
Though it’s got a highly sophisticated world time watch under its belt (the Lange 1 time Zone) Lange & Söhne also makes watches for travelers who are fans of the quintessentially German philosophy that sometimes less is more. This year’s Saxonia Dual Time is such a watch. A pure, round shape, the Saxonia Dual Time is an essentialized fulfillment of both practical necessity and an expression of idiosyncratically Teutonic elegance.
Showing only the critical information needed to keep a time zone jumping jet setter oriented, the Saxonia Dual Time is available in either pink or frostily beautiful white gold, with matching local hour and minute hands. The second hour hand, in heat blued steel, shows time at home, and a glance at the 24 hour hand lets you know if it’s AM or PM for the folks you left behind. The hour hand is adjustable forwards or backwards in one hour jumps with the discreet rectangular pushers on the left side of the case, and under the dial is the Lange in-house automatic calibre LO86.2 (made of maillechort, or “German silver,” rather than the usual rhodium plated brass used in most Swiss watches) with a hand engraved balance cock, and gold rotor with platinum weight.
The Saxonia Dual Time Automatic is offered in rose gold ($25,400) or white gold ($26,600), with a hand-stitched brown or black crocodile strap.
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