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Basel, April 1999
New moon over Glashütte
A. Lange & Söhne has now been able to fit into a wristwatch what the master clockmakers of yesteryear could only build into a monumental astronomical clock: A moon-phase display computed for a period of one thousand years. The Saxon manufactory is dedicating its new 1815 MOONPHASE to one of its most illustrious sons, Emil Lange, for his 150th birthday.
The moon has risen again – at A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte as well. But the return of the popular (and occasionally too ubiquitous) astronomical dial on wristwatches has – in Lange’s 1815 MOONPHASE – achieved the degree of perfection that the old masters once attained only with their monumental astro-nomical clocks: The moon-phase gearing in this innovative watch is computed for a period of one thousand years. It emulates exactly the time between suc-cessive full moons, called the synodic month, of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds.
This makes the new moon over Glashütte a triumph for precision mechanical engineering in the midst of the electronic age, and simultaneously a fitting homage to one of the most illustrious sons of Saxony’s watchmaking dynasty: Emil Lange, born 150 years ago as the second son of founder Adolph Lange. Emil was at the helm of the company for over 40 years beginning in 1875, first with his brother Richard, and then alone after 1887. He would now be exactly twice the age of his grandson Walter Lange, current chairman of the company.
During the era of Emil Lange, the company attained the highest international honours and became famous worldwide. Within the company, ”father figure” Emil continued Adolph’s social commitment and actively mentored up-and-coming watchmakers in Glashütte. Among his other distinctions, Emil served many years as chairman of the board of trustees of the renowned German Horological Academy (DUS) in Glashütte.
Lange’s 1815 MOONPHASE, a paragon of watch-making, is being produced in a limited edition of 150 watches in platinum and 250 in pink gold. With it, the manufactory is once again demonstrating its appreciation of a legacy that draws on historical references to ingeniously advance the triumphs of the past. In the previous, complex moon-phase pocket watches by A. Lange & Söhne, the moon- phase display still had to be corrected every few years. But the moon position in the 1815 MOONPHASE is automatically adjusted twice a day and will deviate from the moon’s actual orbit by only one day after 386 435 days or 1058 years of uninterrupted operation. The moon-phase display is not set to the day as is usual but much more precisely to the hour, using a highly accurate lunar calendar which comes with the watch.
The laws of the cosmos and horology have always been closely related. In the 19th century, at least until the invention of the telephone and the subsequent connection between the A. Lange & Söhne manufactory and the Berlin obser-vatory’s reference time signal generator, Lange’s regleurs still determined the exact time down to the second themselves using astronomical tools such as so-called passage instruments to measure the midday position of the sun. In addition to the moon phase display, an artistic rendering of the best-known constellation also links the 1815 MOONPHASE with celestial mechanics: Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) with its seven stars, approximately of equal brightness, consists of gold appliques. Adjacent to the double star Mizar at the bend of the Big Dipper’s handle lies Alkor (Arabic for tiny horseman) which even in ancient times served as an object for acuity tests.
The cosmic affinity with fine watchmaking is unmistakable. This also applies to the newly developed calibre L943.1 movement in the 1815 MOONPHASE, which provides an extremely precise astronomical indication of the moon phase in a very small space: The movement is only 3,85 mm high and 27,5 mm in diameter. To balance out the astronomical depiction on the left side of the dial, the opposite side features a small second with stop seconds at the 4 o’clock position.
The hand-wound movement beats at 21 600 semi-oscillations per hour and has a 45-hour power reserve when fully wound. It possesses all the typical quality characteristics of Lange movements, such as a three-quarter plate in dama-scened German silver, a hand-engraved balance cock with Lange’s character-istic, patented whiplash precision regulator, a classic screw balance and ruby bearings set into gold chatons secured by blued screws, all of which can be admired through the sapphire-crystal caseback.
This collector’s timepiece is being offered in a numbered series with a hand-stitched crocodile-skin strap and solid platinum or pink-gold buckle – plus a highly accurate lunar calendar that comes with the watch.
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