A. Lange & Sohne have released a trilogy of exclusive timepieces in honor of their 165th anniversary. Each limited edition watch ranges in price from $24,500 to $508,900.

All three distinctive masterpieces are made out of 18-karat honey gold. Honey Gold is extremely uncommon and bears its name because of its golden tone. This type of gold is especially coveted because it is almost twice as hard as normal gold alloys and is thus much more durable. The Tourbograph “Pourb le Merite” is the rarest out of the trilogy, with only 50 pieces ever constructed. This watch is the most expensive, at $508,900, and is the “first wristwatch one-minute tourbillon with a fusee and chain transmission paired with a rattrapante chronograph.”

As far as watches go, it is hard to compete with the Lange 1 Tourbillon. Only 150 of these timepieces were made, at $171,800 each. This watch comes equipped with Lange’s patented stop-seconds mechanism. This “allows you to instantaneously stop the balance inside the rotating tourbillon cage to set the watch to the precise second.”

The last watch in the trilogy is the 1815 Moonphase; Lange has made 265 of these pieces at $24,500 a watch. This timepiece is set apart from the rest because it “engages a suite of wheels with special transmission ratios that minimize error per lunar month a mere 6.61 seconds, meaning that a correction won’t be necessary for more than 1,000 years.”

As you can see, each watch is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also comes with a unique function that propels it beyond all other watches. Every watchmaker at A. Lange & Sohne must attend the rigorous Lange watch-making school, which was established in 1997. This school is so elite and prestigious that it has only produced 66 graduates.

A. Lange & Sohne is the proud winner of 11 esteemed awards in the watch community. The 11th award, the “Red Dot Design award 2010,” was received by the company after the unveiling of the 165th anniversary trilogy. This award is an international honor, which is given by the Design Zentrum Nordhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany. This prized award was established in 1955 and companies must apply to gain the honored distinction. It recognizes innovate design and quality and it is the “largest and most renowned design competition in the world,” with 11,000 applicants worldwide each year.

The watches are a tribute to the founder of the German luxury watch brand, Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Instead of being sold in stores, the watches will be sold to enthusiasts around the world through an exclusive, international road show. The show started on March 25, 2010 and will continue around the world until each watch has been sold at asking price.

-Affluent Page

[A. Lange & Sohne]