It would not do justice to the Lange 1 Tourbillon to talk only about its case, design, mechanics, and finish. This is a collection that encapsulates 150 years of A. Lange & Söhne history, and its creation story alone is worth a certain collectability, let alone the individuality and rarity of this gem. Tourbillons were a very rare occurrence in A. Lange & Söhne’s history up until 1994, and the Lange 1 Tourbillon is a deserving tribute to the brand’s very early days, offered in a thoroughly modern package. A. Lange & Söhne crafted 12 (known) tourbillon pocket watches, spanning from the 1890s to the late 1930s. The tourbillon construction in those days was delegated to specialists, and A. Lange & Söhne’s specialist was Fridolin Stübner, a monumental watchmaker from Glashütte who brought the tourbillon to Saxony. It would be written in his obituary:
“No watch was too complicated for him, no work too difficult. The extremely subtle production of a tourbillon caused him no more difficulties than the construction of a pocket or marine chronometer, to which he devoted himself with particular preference and great success. Every professional had to admire, for example, the wonderfully executed, delicate tourbillon parts that emerged from his hand, and his art in hardening these delicate steel parts is particularly noteworthy: after hardening, the decorated upper part fit the base without any tension, just as precisely as before. The stone work carried out by Stübner was just as artfully executed, and the Lange company repeatedly received the first prize for the marine chronometers he made during official tests. At the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900, Stübner received the Silver Employee Medal, and in St. Louis in 1904, the Golden Employee Medal.
The German watchmaking industry loses in the deceased one of its greatest artists, and the company A. Lange & Söhne an almost irreplaceable force. The company has therefore also dedicated a warm obituary to its loyal employee, in which it is attested that the person, ‘through his loyalty as well as his extraordinary skill and conscientiousness, contributed to the good reputation of the company as well as the entire watch industry of Glashütte, and has made an imperishable monument to himself in the history of the company through his exemplary work.’ The name Fridolin Stübner will always be honored by the House of Lange as a shining role model of rare expertise and high talent.”
The Jahrhunderttourbillon. Courtesy of Lange Uhren GmbH
His most famous work is undoubtedly the Jahrhunderttourbillon, which won the Grand Jury Prize in Paris in 1900. An incredibly delicate, three-armed tourbillon cage hand-crafted and finished by Stübner was placed in a gold case with an enamel depiction of Minerva towering in front of Paris, with silver engravings on the edge of the case. A true masterpiece of the old world, it now rests in the Bautzen Museum. Inspired by this piece, A. Lange & Söhne continued to craft several tourbillon pocket watches in the same style created by Stübner.
Come 1990, Günter Blümlein’s question to revive A. Lange & Söhne was simple: How do we remove 50 years of inactivity and put the name Glashütte next to Swiss? The answer to that question was the Tourbillon Pour le Mérite, the Lange 1, the Saxonia, and the Arkade, with the former two serving as the technical and design flagships, respectively. While the PLM was launched to be the technical frontline, the Lange 1 was launched to showcase the modern design language of the brand, proving that A. Lange & Söhne was not bound by its tradition. A precisely calculated time, date, and power reserve watch, it was presented in a timeless package. Its simplicity was its strength, as nothing would disturb the owner from enjoying this design masterpiece.
Then came the year 1996. The turn of the millennium was a few years away, but beyond that, it was the 100th anniversary of A. Lange & Söhne’s award-winning tourbillon pocket watch, and the 10th anniversary of the modern brand’s foundation. It was going to be a tourbillon, but with what? Then Meis says this:
“I mean, we were developing great new things. Just listen to the words “outsize date” or “tourbillon” resounding in my head in every technical meeting. We hadn’t decided on the execution yet, but the words were out.”
Lange 1 Tourbillon “Handwerkskunst”. Recently sold at The Selection
The decision was made to apply the tourbillon to the sacred Lange 1 canvas. The first movement designs started in 1996, and in 2000, the watch was ready. The Lange 1 Tourbillon was presented at Baselworld in platinum (704.025) limited to 150 pieces, and pink gold (704.032) limited to 250 pieces. Featuring the classic 38.5 mm case with a 10.2 mm thickness, its comfort and looks are exactly as you would expect from a Lange 1, with its sculpted lugs and brushed case band.
While this initial release laid the foundation, the watch would ultimately serve as a canvas for Lange’s most experimental metallurgy and dial-making over the next two decades. Below is the comprehensive list of these rare iterations, including the unique pieces:
Production quantities by reference
References
704.025
Platinum
Argenté dial
150 pieces
704.032
Pink Gold
Silver dial
250 pieces
Image: Bazamu
722.050
Honey Gold
Argenté dial
150 pieces
704.048
Platinum
Black enamel dial
25 pieces
722.066
White Gold
Silver dial · blue accents
25 pieces
Image: deployant.com
704.032
Pink Gold
Black dial
Case 129120 · #120/150
Image: Dr. Crott
704.025
Platinum
Silver dial · blued hands
Case 129395 · #145/150
Image: Phillips
704.046
Platinum
Black dial
“Darth” · Case 129442
Including one unique piece made for Hour Glass Japan, the tally goes to 601 known pieces of the Lange 1 Tourbillon. I think that is quite ambitious for a watch of this specialty. On the other hand, I believe we will continue to see different editions from this collection from time to time in the coming years. It is simply the pinnacle of the Lange 1 line. That said, collectors were not as loving toward this piece back in 2000 as they are now. I would say even now this is a love-it-or-hate-it piece, and in fact, that is exactly what you want in a watch, to evoke strong emotions rather than just being liked. The Lange 1 Tourbillon is tremendous at that.
It was once considered a sacrilege to touch the Lange 1 canvas. Prior to the Lange 1 Tourbillon, the simple and precise design of the Lange 1 had never been altered apart from the dial color and finish. However, the tourbillon had to sit somewhere. To make way for it, A. Lange & Söhne rearranged the dial layout slightly. To accommodate the tourbillon, the sub-seconds were pushed inside the main dial, and replaced with a tourbillon opening of roughly the same diameter as the sub-seconds dial. In all models except the Honeygold (722.050) and Anniversary (722.066) editions, the top of the tourbillon opening is not cut out in order to conceal the date discs. However, in those two editions, Lange utilized sapphire crystal date discs to keep the tourbillon fully visible at all times, allowing one to see the true size of the tourbillon cage. In my opinion, the glass discs are a far better solution.
Lange 1 Tourbillon Honeygold 722.050. Sold at The Selection
The Lange 1 Tourbillon still tries very hard, and succeeds, to preserve the triangular design of the Lange 1 dial. The diamond endstone of the tourbillon sits exactly where the sub-seconds pinion once did, still forming a straight line through the power reserve indicator and the date discs. The “Made in Germany” inscription sits above the tourbillon on the initial editions, and the “Tourbillon” inscription crowns the main dial. Personally, I find both were rather unnecessary. Possibly Lange thought the same, because on the Handwerkskunst Edition, we see just the gorgeous black enamel without any inscriptions or distractions, just that spectacular craftsmanship. The Lange 1 Tourbillon Honeygold “165th Anniversary” Edition carries the series’ signature guilloché on the main dial.
A fair design upgrade would have been to place the seconds hand on top of the tourbillon cage, thereby avoiding overlapping seconds and main time dials. Yet, the reason this was not done is because the tourbillon cage rotates counterclockwise, and hence could not be directly connected to a standard seconds gear train. While a complex secondary differential could theoretically reverse this direction, omitting a sweep-seconds indicator on the cage forces the wearer to appreciate the tourbillon not as a clinical timing device, but as a purely artistic, kinetic sculpture. Perhaps this watch was meant to be controversial and stirring, and it is very good at being exactly what it tries to be.
Focusing on the tourbillon cage itself, we go back to Stübner: three curved arms with adjustment screws on the edges. The Lange 1 Tourbillon’s construction feels a bit robust and tactile compared to the paper-thin steel arms of Stübner’s pocket watches. In fact, it reminds me more of Huguenin’s showcase tourbillons—one might even call them identical. It is flawlessly black-polished, forming a continuum with the black-polished steel bridge, and is crowned with a diamond. Again, an upgrade to such a special watch could have been a slightly more thorough finish on the tourbillon bridge with sharp internal angles—yet this will do!
Lange 1 Tourbillon Caliber L961.1
Reinhard Meis is the author of *Das Tourbillon*, a phenomenal book on the tourbillon’s development through the ages and its different interpretations. Though unfortunately little known, Glashütte also holds a dear place in the history of the tourbillon, mainly due to Alfred Helwig’s invention of the flying tourbillon and the tourbillon constructions of the German Watchmaking School (DUS) pupils. With such a background, and the partnership of minds with Blümlein, it is impossible to imagine these two masterminds *not* embedding the tourbillon into the modern brand’s history.
With the first example coming in 1994 with the Tourbillon Pour le Mérite, A. Lange & Söhne started the development of its second tourbillon caliber in 1996, hence the movement number L961.1. The caliber beats at 3Hz, offers 72 hours of power reserve, and delightfully fills the caseback.
The Lange 1 Tourbillon’s movement is constructed over the base caliber L901.0. Putting them side by side, it is obvious that everything was kept except the balance assembly, which was replaced by the tourbillon. It remains a gorgeous view: a giant three-quarter plate with gold chatons, blued screws, and generous Glashütte ribbing. The island cutout remains for the offset main dial.
This time, we are spoiled with two tourbillon cocks, one is crowned with a diamond on the dial side, and the other features a jewel held by a gold chaton with triple blued screws on the movement side. Again, one could argue there is tremendously more room to demonstrate artistry, especially on the edges of the three-quarter plate. However, Lange clearly kept that spirit reserved for the Handwerkskunst Edition. For the rest of the editions, while I cannot say these are the absolute best-finished Lange pieces for their price point, I can certainly say they are still above and beyond.
Lange 1 Tourbillon models also differ in their specific calibers. While the initial platinum and pink gold editions house the L961.1, models produced after 2010 feature an updated mechanism equipped with the patented stop-seconds tourbillon. Notably, A. Lange & Söhne was the first brand in history to devise a mechanism to hack a one-minute tourbillon, receiving the patent in 2008 and first introducing it in the Cabaret Tourbillon. Furthermore, the Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst bears the caliber L961.3 due to the adjustment of pinions required to accommodate the thicker enamel dial.
Arguably the finest finished Lange movement. Recently sold at The Selection
These mechanical refinements, slowly introduced over decades to perfect a once-unloved giant, would eventually lay the groundwork for a massive reassessment on the secondary market.
Buying a Lange 1 Tourbillon & Collectability
When introduced, the Lange 1 Tourbillon carried a retail price of $106,000 for the platinum reference (704.025) and $95,000 for the pink gold (704.032). As with most other complicated Lange watches during the early and mid-2000s, the Lange 1 Tourbillon performed fairly strongly at auction, selling on average for 50% above its retail price. Then, following the trend of its peers, the Lange 1 Tourbillon’s value declined. Since the beginning of the 2010s, prices fell significantly. Even though A. Lange & Söhne attempted to reignite interest with the 165th Anniversary and Handwerkskunst editions, the Lange 1 Tourbillon failed to gather the desired attention.
However, there is significant private transaction data that also supports these public prices.
Lange 1 Tourbillon 25th Anniversary. Source, deployant.com
A recent sale of a Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst here on Langepedia.com broke the record for the collection. Right after that, a unique-piece pink gold edition with a black dial broke that record at $900,000, going to a very important collector. The 25th Anniversary Edition has yet to surface publicly, but I expect a very strong performance from the reference 722.066, simply because I think it is the second-best piece in the collection. The Lange 1 Tourbillon is a highly important piece of horological history with a unique design. Although its production volume is relatively high for a complication of this caliber, edition runs of 150 to 250 pieces are still incredibly low in the grand scheme of things. Combined with the Handwerkskunst and Anniversary editions, it is surely the most adventurous of the Lange 1s, and it will always hold a vital place in the brand’s timeline.
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