Behind The Lens: Two 1815 Chronographs From A. Lange & Söhne – Reprise

Are you able to think about shopping for a watch bracelet after which trying to find the proper watch to pair with it? Appears a bit far fetched, however that’s precisely what a very good pal of mine did just a few years in the past.

He’s been a collector of watches by A. Lange & Söhne for years, and over that point grew to become fascinated with the precious-metal bracelets made for the model by German jeweler Wellendorff. Not many have been produced and they don’t seem to be simple to seek out, however my pal picked up two fitted bracelets: one in platinum and the opposite in white gold.

The issue was, he didn’t have the correct A. Lange & Söhne watches to suit both bracelet precisely! These fitted bracelets have curved finish hyperlinks designed to exactly match particular lug widths and case diameters, and he after all was disinclined to purchase a watch he didn’t completely love simply to match the size of his bracelets.

Good match: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version on its fitted bracelet

Enter the Boutique Version 1815 Chronograph in white gold: this restricted manufacturing watch launched in 2015 returned the look of this reference from the open visible of the second-generation 1815 Chronograph to a extra cluttered look just like that of the first-generation piece a lot to the delight of many die-hard Lange followers – together with my pal.

Because it seems he’s additionally a medical physician, so A. Lange & Söhne’s option to reintroduce a pulsometer scale across the perimeter of the dial was additionally very a lot to his liking.

Acquainted muddle: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version

Along with trying cool when worn on the dear metallic bracelet (that’s my wrist within the first picture above), the look of this watch has lots of different issues going for it visually.

I discover the silver dial significantly attention-grabbing with its essential surfaces exhibiting a delicate pebbled look and the grooved subdials offering a pearlescent impact. And there’s the very tasty and closely utilized blue pigment of the numerals and different indices that in flip picks up the deep blue of the watch’s minor arms.

Pebbles and pearls: dial element, A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version

Seen on a darkish leather-based strap, the 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version is for me simply as hanging as it’s on the gold bracelet and undoubtedly extra wearable for on a regular basis enterprise than the blingier bracelet model.

Prepared for enterprise: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version on leather-based strap

That’s a very good factor, as in 2017 A. Lange & Söhne took one other step standard with die-hard Lange followers by introducing one other white gold model of the 1815 Chronograph, this one with a mouth-watering all-black dial.

It simply goes to point out how particulars matter: first-generation black-dialed 1815s featured silver subdials as on the black-dialed Datograph and Double Break up, and the change from silver to black on this up to date model makes for a leaner, extra dramatic look.

Black-dialed A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph in white gold

Quicker than you possibly can say “spring bars,” that white gold bracelet discovered its manner onto the black-dialed piece, making for an influence watch if ever there was one.

Actual presence: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph on bracelet

I’ve learn that some people assume the all-black remedy makes this watch a bit too “Patek Philippe-like” within the vein of Reference 5370P and significantly Reference 5170G. I’ll confess that I can see the purpose, however on the identical time the distinctive fonts used and design codes such because the three-dot markers at 12, 3, 6, and 9 make this piece unmistakably Lange-like for me.

Layers within the darkness: dial element, A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph

Whereas the black-dialed model clearly lacks the colour contrasts of the Boutique Version, it has its personal visible curiosity with the dial on 4 distinct layers (pulsometer, hour and minute ring, central dial, and subdials) and light-catching round grooves on the subdials themselves.

Feeling groovy: dial element, A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph

Round again of each watches it’s what we’ve come to count on from an A. Lange & Söhne chronograph: a tiny, finely detailed metropolis underneath glass that includes a big selection of ending strategies that invite the attention to linger whereas we function the pushers and watch the chronograph motion do its methods.

Caliber L952.1 of the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph

Capturing the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronographs

When you’d requested me earlier than I arrange the sunshine tent to shoot these two beauties, I’d have guessed that the black-dialed white-metal watch would give me suits and the Boutique Version with its largely matte-textured dial and clear shade contrasts could be simple.

No piece of cake to shoot: tough-to-capture blue-on-white of the 1815 Chronograph Boutique Version

Within the occasion, it turned out to be just about the other! Whereas the visible parts together with the rhodium-plated gold arms on the Boutique Version have been fairly distinct visually, the dial itself tended to exhibit a confounding array of shade casts, from cyans and greens close to the perimeter of the dial to odd yellowish tones throughout the shadows that the primary arms throw on dial.

I corrected a few of this in post-processing to make the pictures look as very similar to the precise watch as doable, however on the identical time I didn’t wish to desaturate the pictures a lot that the delicate colours which are there vanish right into a seemingly white-on-platinum rendering.

Nearer, higher: dial element, A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph

Nearer photographs just like the one above have been considerably simpler to handle and supply a clearer impression of the creamy shade of the dial, sky-blue markings, and delicate floor remedies.

Against this (actually and figuratively) the digicam (on this occasion the Hasselblad X1D) completely beloved the black/silver/white tones of the opposite watch.

Definitely it helped that the dial indications are printed in white and never the diabolical-to-shoot polished white metallic indices of another watches. However different parts of the 1815 Chronograph such because the bombé (domed) shapes of the arms and the light-catching transitions between the totally different vertical layers of the dial helped as nicely.

Simple as pie: capturing the black-dialed A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph

And that bracelet! It turned out that though its floor is very polished, the pronounced curves and alternating flat surfaces of the person hyperlinks assist to interrupt the view of the bracelet into gentle and darkish sectors whereas protecting these nasty, overly vivid, blown-out parts at bay.

So, which one for you? I’ll have an interest to listen to your ideas within the feedback part on the relative deserves of those two variations of a real A. Lange & Söhne basic and naturally your views on how the bracelet fits them: final sport or hot-weather watch or excessive?

Parting shot: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronographs in white gold

For extra on the 1815 Chronograph line please go to www.alange-soehne.com/en/timepieces/1815-chronograph.

Fast Information A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph
Reference numbers: 414.026 (Boutique Version) and 414.028 (black dial pulsometer model)
Case: 39.5 x 11 mm; white gold
Dial: stable silver; Boutique Version with rhodium-plated gold and blued metal arms and blue printed indices on silvered background; pulsometer model with rhodium-plated gold arms and white printed indices on black
Motion: manually wound Caliber L951.5 with free-sprung stability; a number of jewels set in gold chatons; 60-hour energy reserve; frequency 18,000 vph/2.5 Hz
Capabilities: hours, minutes, hacking subsidiary seconds; 30-minute flyback chronograph with instantaneously leaping minutes
Value: €50,000 together with German VAT
Manufacturing years: 2015 onward (Boutique Version); 2017 onward (black dial pulsometer)
Limitation: Boutique Version restricted manufacturing (however not restricted version) and obtainable solely by means of A. Lange & Söhne boutiques; pulsometer model not restricted

*This text was first printed on March 4, 2019 at Behind The Lens: Two 1815 Chronographs From A. Lange & Söhne.

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