Important Watches

A. Lange & Söhne Datograph, Reference 403.035 A platinum flyback chronograph wristwatch with date, Circa 2012 Dial: black Calibre: cal. 951.1 mechanical, 40 jewels Movement number: 59’498 Case: platinum, sapphire crystal display back secured by 6 screws Case number: 169’521 Closure: black A. Lange & Söhne alligator strap and platinum folding clasp Size: 39 mm diameter Signed: case, dial and movement Accessories: A. Lange & Söhne International Guarantee Seal, instruction manual and presentation box At the 1999 Basel Fair, A. Lange & Söhne introduced a watch which caused an industry wide revolution, bringing about changes that can still be felt today. Despite being the brand’s first chronograph offering since its resurrection, the Datograph was an instant hit and outshone many chronographs from already established brands such as Patek Philippe. Taking five years to design, the flyback chronograph movement of the watch was made specifically to be as complicated and intricate as possible, made more difficult to create due to the design team taking an uncompromising 'dial first' approach, where the dial was created first and the movement had to be engineered around it. The resulting movement was a true marvel to look at, often described as a little city. To balance the subdials which are situated below the midpoint of the dial, the iconic big date from the Lange 1 was carried over and placed directly beneath 12 o’clock. At that point in time, no other brand had gone to such lengths in chronograph production. In comparison, Patek Philippe had just released reference 5070 one year prior and was still using a Lemania movement. The Datograph ushered in an age where in-house, complicated design and a focus on movement finishing were made priorities. The watch acted as a major catalyst for the well known industry trend of in-house production, and indeed in the following years after release, big industry players, including Patek Philippe, had all adopted A. Lange & Söhne’s philosophy.

View 1 of Lot 2584: Datograph, Reference 403.035 | A platinum flyback chronograph wristwatch with date, Circa 2012

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