The New York Watch Auction: EIGHT takes place on June 10 and 11, inside our Manhattan headquarters at 432 Park Avenue. The auction includes more than 120 of the world's finest watches; here, our Senior Editorial Manager highlights a special A. Lange & Söhne included in the sale.
– By Logan Baker
The Lange 1 is A. Lange & Söhne's flagship product in the modern era.
As interesting and desirable as watches like the Datograph, Odysseus, and Zeitwerk are, it’s really the Lange 1 that serves as the historic German watchmaker’s most recognizable creation since the it was reborn in the early 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It goes without saying, then, that some Lange 1s are more desirable than others.
The stainless steel ref. 101.026s are famous for their collectability, as are the closed caseback pieces that were primarily offered by A. Lange & Söhne before 1996. Certain limited-edition pieces in the “Lumen” series, or those cased in Honey Gold, will also always command plenty of interest among watch lovers, as will first-generation models with blue dials (ref. 101.027) or the famous platinum-cased, black-dialed “Darth” series (ref. 101.035).
The “Secret” Lange 1 ref. 101.027x is another example of a rare, desirable, and interesting Lange 1. Unlike any of the above references, however, the so-called “Secret” edition has a unique backstory that potentially involves a bridge in Dresden, the Saxon sister city to A. Lange & Söhne’s hometown of Glashütte, and a specialized agency of the United Nations.
It’s an unexpected and unusual tale that, despite its circuitous background, resulted in a wonderful take on the Lange 1 formula, defined by its silvered dial, printed Roman numerals, and heat-blued hands. An original-owner example of the “Secret” Lange 1 ref. 101.027x is included in the New York Watch Auction: EIGHT – here’s everything you should know before the sale opens its doors on June 10 and 11, 2023.
The Lange 1 ref. 101.027x earned the “Secret” nickname for one reason: It was never officially introduced or publicly promoted by A. Lange & Söhne through its typical channels. The attractive silver-and-blue watch never appeared inside a catalog or on the back cover of a magazine. Similar to the stainless steel ref. 101.026, the 18k white gold ref. 101.027x was a horological ghost, offered only in highly limited production for a few short years.
Much speculation exists as to why the ref. 101.027x never received a public debut. Nothing to date has been confirmed by A. Lange & Söhne officially, and all scholarship surrounding the pieces is the result of research completed by interested collectors and specialists.
One of the more prominent theories is that the ref. 101.027x was offered to select A. Lange & Söhne retailers following the creation of the platinum “Stealth” Lange 1 ref. 101.025 series for Cellini Jewelers in New York that featured a tone-on-tone dial and case, with some examples featuring heat-blued hands. It wouldn’t be unheard of for A. Lange & Söhne’s international retail network to come together after seeing how great Cellini’s Lange 1 looked, and eventually request something similar to offer their own clients.
A. Lange & Söhne’s solution in this hypothesis would be to create the “Secret” ref. 101.027x. The brand wouldn’t want to publicize the creation of such a similar design so soon after the ref. 101.025 had been introduced, so they opt to keep things quiet, only producing the watch on special order for their retailers and clients. It's all very feasible. The ref. 101.027x being an unofficial special-order watch is probably the likeliest scenario and still works with the “Secret” nickname. My personal favorite theory, however, is one proposed by the collector and A. Lange & Söhne expert that goes by Langepedia.
He suggests that the “Secret” Lange 1 was actually intended to be a commemorative watch celebrating the 2005 designation of Saxony’s Elbe Valley region as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The only problem is that the World Heritage Site title was revoked fairly quickly after the Waldschlößen bridge was commissioned and built near Dresden’s city center, conflicting with UNESCO's requirements for the World Heritage honor.
This theory proposes that A. Lange & Söhne intended to officially introduce the watch to celebrate UNESCO’s recognition of the Elbe Valley, but they hit pause on those plans due to the drame surrounding the Waldschlößen bridge. Given that many examples of the ref. 101.027x had already been cased and were ready to ship to retailers, A. Lange & Söhne went ahead and quietly sold the watches without any additional promotion.
The timing lines up. Production of the first known ref. 101.027x examples date to approximately 2002, which was when the Saxon government was preparing to submit a bid to UNESCO for consideration. The latest examples are thought to have been completed around 2007/2008. That would be about when A. Lange & Söhne would have realized the new Waldschlößen bridge was potentially causing an issue.
It’s believed that the correct case number range for the “Secret” ref. 101.027x is between 13X'XXX and 173'XXX, and that the correct movement number range is between 30'xxx to 60'xxx. The example in the New York Watch Auction: EIGHT dates to around the middle of the production run, in 2006, and has a case number of 155'296 and a movement number of 39'765. If you’re interested in hunting down a “Secret” Lange 1 for yourself, you should know that the warranty card on many examples is signed “101.027” rather than “101.027.”
Although it’s unknown exactly how many examples of the ref. 101.027x were created and sold by A. Lange & Söhne, it’s thought to be under 250 total based on the above case and movement number data. Very few of that potential number, however, have appeared publicly at auction over the years – our research reveals that the example in the New York Watch Auction: EIGHT is only the seventh to appear at one of the big four auction houses for watches.
It's the third example to appear at PHILLIPS, following an impressive May 2022 result of CHF 138,600 during the Geneva Watch Auction: XV, and a November 2022 result of HKD $466,220 during the Hong Kong Watch Auction: XV.
A. Lange & Söhne fans know on sight that when a Lange 1 with printed numerals and heat-blued hands pops up, it’s always something special. The only Lange 1 references to include this combination, other than the “Secret” Lange 1, are the stainless-steel ref. 101.026 and the early 18k yellow gold ref. 101.022. The former is even rarer than the “Secret” Lange 1, of course, although the latter was available as a regular production reference.
The “Secret” ref. 101.027x did receive another brief moment of recognition a few years ago, when, during A. Lange & Söhne’s year-long 25th anniversary celebration in 2019, the brand released a limited-edition Lange 1 (ref. 191.066) cased in 18k white gold with a silvered dial featuring printed Roman numerals and heat-blued hands – a design that's effectively identical to the ref. 101.027x.
It might have been A. Lange & Söhne’s way of finally acknowledging its “Secret” Lange 1.
You can learn more about and register to bid in the New York Watch Auction: EIGHT by visiting our online catalog.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade working in watch-focused media, reporting on every aspect of the industry. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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