By Kien Lee

A.

Lange & Söhne first unveiled to the world three years ago, the new LANGE 1 TIME ZONE. The model was a manifestation of the innovative power and creativity of the Lange watchmakers, complemented by the aesthetically appealing design.

“The LANGE 1 TIME ZONE is an expressive manifestation of our manufactory’s efforts to challenge conventions and break new ground in precision watchmaking through innovative advancements and constructions,” explains Lange-CEO Wilhelm Schmid. “Only in proceeding in this way, do we succeed in developing things from the ground up and building watches that offer unique functions and inimitable designs. Progress and tradition go hand in hand to accommodate our quest for perfection.”

The LANGE 1 TIME ZONE combines sophisticated micromechanical engineering with a timeless design while assuring superb legibility. In it, the ring with the 24 reference cities has been positioned on the periphery of the dial, maintaining the off-centre dial architecture of the LANGE 1 watch family.

The larger time circle indicates home time, while the smaller time circle displays the time in a second time zone. When the corrector button at 8 o’clock is actuated, the city ring switches in the easterly direction by one time zone. At the same time, the hour hand in the small subsidiary dial advances by one hour and now indicates the zone time of the city ‒ and corresponding time zone ‒ at which the gold applied arrow marker points.

In addition the watch also offers the technical feature of daylight-saving time. A colour segment in the arrow indicates whether the selected city and time zone implement daylight-saving time. If this is the case, the small aperture is filled in red. If standard time is observed in this location all year round, the background remains unchanged.

To distinguish between day and night in both time zones, the LANGE 1 TIME ZONE features coloured ring-shaped day/night indicators linked to the hour hands. They are located in the centre of each time circle and inform the wearer whether the respective time indication is valid for the first or the second half of the day. When the hour hand is in the dial-coloured area, the display refers to the interval between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.; when the blue background appears, it refers to the interval between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Ingeniously, the LANGE 1 TIME ZONE is endowed with a synchronisation mechanism that allows the zone time to be transferred from the smaller subsidiary dial to the larger one, thus making it possible to define a new main time as home time. When the crown is pulled in the second position, the times of both zones can be adjusted synchronously. However, if the time-zone correction button is pressed and held, the hour hand of the zone-time dial will be stopped in its position. Now, the defined new main time can be set independently of the zone time.

Finally, it may be necessary to correct the outsize date, which is connected with main time, by actuating the date correction button at 10 o’clock.

The dimensions of the watch have not been modified: the case boasts a diameter of 41.9 millimetres and a height of 10.9 millimetres. In addition to the models with white gold/black and pink gold/argenté case/dial combinations, the LANGE 1 TIME ZONE is now also available in a 950-platinum case combined with a rhodium-coloured dial made of solid silver, resulting in a decidedly classic look, a first for this model.