The Lange 1 is perhaps the most iconic design of A Lange & Söhne. Launched in 1994, its calling card is an asymmetrical dial which is balanced to the golden ratio. An exercise in mathematical precision to convey something extremely pleasing visually.

Diameter: 38.5mm

Lug-to-lug: 47.2mm

Thickness: 10.2mm

Lug width: 20mm

It offers 30 meters of water resistance.

The case is 18k rose gold. The bezel itself is domed. In terms of complications, the watch has a big-date at what would normally be the 1 o’clock position and a power reserve indicator closer to the traditional 3 o’clock position. A small seconds runs beneath the power reserve indicator, and the hour/minute hands reside across from the crown. The crown is in the traditional 3 o’clock position and is branded, and a pusher resides on the opposite side of the case, near the top lug, in order to quick-set the date.

Moving back to the dial, which is protected by a sapphire crystal, we see the hands and indices are in the same rose gold as the case The dial is silver and a concentric circle pattern is used on both the small seconds and hour/minute subdial areas to provide some visual diversity. The A Lange & Söhne branding is at the top of the watch. The right-hand side has the power reserve notations. Below the hour/minute subdial is the Made in Germany notation, and at the bottom of the case is a notation that the watch uses twin mainspring barrels. Everything is mathematically balanced to be pleasing to the eye.

The crown offers two positions. In position 0 the watch can be wound and in position 1 the time can be set and the seconds hand does hack when in this position. The date can be quick-set via the button on the opposite side of the case.

The watch has an alligator strap with a pin buckle in 18kt rose gold.

Flipping the watch over you can see another the watch has a display caseback, showing off the Calibre L901 movement. This is a hand-wind only in-house movement. The bridges are done in German silver on which you can see Glashutte striping and in the famed 3-quarter bridge format favored by many German brands. The movement also has blue-heated screws, black-polished screws, gold chatons, and a hand-engraved balance cock. It offers approximately 72 hours of power reserve and is powered by two mainspring barrels beats at 3 Hz, and has 53 jewels. Back to the bridge work, there are a couple of notable islands in the 3-quarter bridge. The center island covers the keyless works and the island to the edge of the case covers the small seconds.

Putting this watch on my timegrapher I get an average across all six positions of +4  seconds per day. The range of readings was -1 second per day to +12 seconds per day. 

So, in terms of my overall thoughts, this has been the dress watch I have most wanted to own, I suppose the closest to what one might call a grail piece. I got this used from the WatchBox, hence the used condition of the case. The watch was recently serviced under warranty as the timekeeping was out of spec so my earlier-referenced movement performance is based on this recent servicing.

I like the overall balance of this dial. The mathematical precision to align all these different elements in a way that is extremely visually pleasing but also unlike any other watch dial is the strongest feature of the Lange 1. Yes, the movement is interesting as well, but it is the dial-side uniqueness that has made this a favorite of mine.

I’d say the biggest negatives are this isn’t really a watch that, in my opinion, dresses down very well. Also, some dress watch purists may be annoyed at a hand-wind only watch that’s over 10 mm in thickness, but that’s a price to the complications involved and it still is quite wearable under a cuff.

Overall, if you can get behind the dial design, I think this is a top tier watch for those looking for something dressy and different.