A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk

Mechanical watches with a numeric time display are extremely rare in the world of watchmaking. The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk is one such timepiece and the first mechanical wristwatch from this Glashütte-based manufacturer to display the time using jumping hours and minutes. The only hands are located on the small seconds dial and power reserve display. The famous Five-Minute Clock in the Dresden Semperoper served as the inspiration for this timepiece.

This collection's highlights are models with a chiming mechanism and the Zeitwerk Handwerkskunst . The latter is made of platinum and limited to a run of 30 pieces. Its case and movement are both intricately engraved by hand. Every watch in the Handwerkskunst series demonstrates A. Lange & Söhne's watchmaking prowess and is the embodiment of haute horlogerie. You can find other Handwerkskunst models in the Lange 1, 1815, and Richard Lange collections.

The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater is this series' most complicated model. It was the first mechanical watch to combine a decimal minute repeater with a jumping time display. This Zeitwerk relays the time acoustically broken down into hours, ten minutes, and minutes, which sets it apart from other minute repeaters. Timepieces from manufacturers such as Patek Philippe chime the quarter hours, not ten minutes.

The unique time display of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk comes at a price. In pink gold, this timepiece costs around 58,500 USD new and 54,500 USD pre-owned. The white gold edition costs a few thousand dollars more, ranging from 55,500 USD pre-owned to 62,000 USD in mint condition.

The platinum Zeitwerk Handwerkskunst is limited to a run of 30 pieces. Its black rhodium-plated white gold dial is decorated with extremely delicate tremblage engraving. The caliber L043.4 features a lever and escape wheel in hardened 18-karat gold, making it truly special. You can purchase a pre-owned example of this rare luxury watch for about 189,000 USD.

The Zeitwerk is unmistakably a Lange watch. The large numerals displaying the time immediately call to mind images of Lange's outsize date display. Unlike most Lange date displays, the Zeitwerk's designers decided to forego the divider between the first and second numerals. The second markers on the small seconds subdial are reminiscent of those from other Glashütte manufacturers. A similar railroad minute scale also features in the 1815 series.

The round case also marks this watch as coming from A. Lange. The smallest version of the watch is 41.9 mm in diameter, making it well-suited to be worn as a dress watch . One advantage of the digital display is that the minute window peeks out from under your sleeve, so you can read the time with one quick glance.

A. Lange & Söhne drew inspiration from the world-famous five-minute clock at the Dresden Semperoper when designing their outsize date display. In 1838, Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes, who served as the Saxon court's master clockmaker, was commissioned to create a clock that could be read clearly from all seats in the opera house. Together with his former apprentice, Ferdinand Adolph Lange, he presented the five-minute clock in 1841. This large clock displayed the hour via a Roman numeral in a left-side window and the minutes via Arabic numerals in a right-side window. The time changed every five minutes, displaying the time in increasing increments of five: 00, 05, 10, etc.

A. Lange & Söhne also used the five-minute clock as the basis for their Zeitwerk collection. However, unlike the original clock, they use Arabic numerals for both the hours and minutes, and the minute window changes every minute. Hands are only used for the power reserve display and small seconds. The hands are distinctive to Lange: very thin and delicate. One eye-catching detail is the large bridge made of German silver that extends across the dial. It frames the small seconds and the hour and minute windows. The bridge is a functional part of the movement: Together with the colorless jewel bearings, it supports the axles of both minute discs. The power reserve display is located on the upper half of the dial, just below the A. Lange & Söhne logo.