Glowing in the Dark With the GRAND LANGE 1 MOON PHASE “Lumen” from A. Lange & Söhne
Photos recently received from A. Lange & Söhne with Iceland and the Aurora Borealis as a backdrop to the German watchbrand’s trio of spectacular luminous watch models reminded us of our no less spectacular photos of the GRAND LANGE 1 MOON PHASE “Lumen” taken by Haute Time photographer Alex Teuscher at the SIHH earlier this year. We decided to put them together to share with you.
In line with the A. Lange & Söhne ZEITWERK “Luminous” presented in 2010 and the GRAND LANGE 1 “Lumen” in 2012, the GRAND LANGE 1 MOON PHASE “Lumen” features a dial display that can be charged with light energy to uniformly glow in the dark for several hours. This year’s model, as its name indicates, shows off a beautiful luminous moon-phase display and a brilliant outsize date.
How does it work? The dial is made of blackened silver with large apertures and a semi-transparent black-tinted sapphire-crystal glass wafer — a coating that blocks most of the visible light but not the UV spectra that “charge” the luminous pigments on the outsize date mechanism, causing them to glow in the dark. The tens cross is coated with a white luminous compound and printed with black numerals, while the units disc, also featuring black numerals, is made of transparent glass and rotates in front of the luminous background of the date aperture.
The lunar disc is also made of glass, first treated with a patented coating process before being cut with a laser beam to create the moon and 1164 stars. It is the luminous compound behind the lunar disc that makes the moon and the stars shine. And because this is A. Lange & Söhne, the large moon-phase display is accurate to 99.998 per cent, and once set, needs to be corrected only one day every 122.6 years.
Like all “lumen” models, the hands are rhodiumed gold and luminous, while the case, for maximum strength, is made from platinum that is heated to about 1800°C, cast in a die when molten, then rolled to the final thickness of the bezel, case middle and caseback within 30 minutes before cooling at room temperature. This case measures 41mm with a thickness of 9.5mm.
The GRAND LANGE 1 MOON PHASE “Lumen” Ref. 139.035F is equipped with the elaborately finished and twice assembled manually wound calibre L095.4 with a power reserve of 72 hours. In addition to the luminous outsize date and moon phase displays, functions include hours, minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds and power reserve indicator. User-friendly, one button ensures quick outsize date corrections, with a recessed push piece for correcting the moon-phase display.
Complemented with a hand-stitched black alligator leather strap.
Limited edition of 200 watches. Priced at EUR69,600.
Photo Credit: A. Lange & Söhne/Haute Time. For more information, please visit the official A. Lange & Söhne website. Follow Haute Time on Instagram to catch all of the new releases as they happen.
