Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, online auction, running from 12:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 5, to 2:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 12. Featuring 70 different high-end luxury wristwatches, the sale covers everything from A. Lange & Söhne and F.P. Journe to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, including the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph ref. 403.032 featured above.
– By Logan Baker
A. Lange & Söhne only released one watch last year during Watches & Wonders Geneva 2023. They did better this year – they had two new wristwatches to show off to press, retailers, and curious clients. Both watches were from the Datograph family, and were, expectedly, as brilliant as they were attractive.
There's a more traditional limited-edition Datograph with a blue dial and that's cased in 18k white gold, making it the first Datograph ever offered in the metal. And then there's the incredible Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen,” that – yes – is exactly as it sounds: the Datograph chronograph, paired with a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon mechanism, crafted from the brand's proprietary Honeygold alloy and featuring the coveted, and extremely rare, "Lumen" aesthetic orientation. You could call it the "ultimate" A. Lange & Söhne wristwatch for collectors – we wouldn't argue with you.
These two Datograph models were announced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Datograph's legacy-defining 1999 introduction. That's wonderful – however, 2024 happens to mark a large number of other important anniversaries for the brand as well.
That’s right, it's officially 30 years since A. Lange & Söhne was successfully reborn under the leadership of Günter Blümlein and descendent Walter Lange, which means this year is also the 30th birthday for the brand's founding collection: the Lange 1, the Saxonia, the Arkade, and the Tourbillon Pour Le Mérite.
But we’re focusing on the Datograph here.
Launched in 1999, the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph has widely been regarded by collectors as one of the finest modern chronograph wristwatches produced by any firm. Since its re-establishment, A. Lange & Söhne has been creating some of the most impressive timepieces executed to the highest quality.
The Datograph houses the Lange in-house flyback chronograph caliber L951.1 – a movement that was part of a changing landscape in terms of how enthusiasts, collectors, and the industry think about chronographs. Before its debut, little had occurred in the way of development of classic high-end chronograph movements for many years.
The movement is expertly finished throughout with Glashütte stripes and a signature hand-engraved balance cock. The oversized date window display, particular to Lange wristwatches, inspired by the Dresden Semper Opera clock, sits perfectly legible at the 12 o’clock position.
The first generation of the Datograph featured a 39mm diameter case without a power reserve indication, giving the dial a clean and simplistic appeal. Further, the combination of platinum case with a black dial is the original Datograph that captured the admiration of so many collectors and connoisseurs when it first appeared at Baselworld in 1999.
The reference 403.035 even has a number of tiny peculiarities that set the earliest Datographs apart from their later counterparts and will excite keen-eyed connoisseurs. First-generation examples, for instance, feature a dial that reads “METER” rather than “meters” on the tachymeter track. It’s only seen in pieces produced before 2005.
Since its introduction, the Datograph has expanded into a family of models including the Datograph Perpetual and the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, as well as the Datograph Up/Down Lumen, and related models like 2004's 1815 chronograph on one end of the complexity scale, and models such as the Double Split (also from 2004) and the Triple Split on the other. Common to all is the placement of the chronograph sub-registers at 4:00 and 8:00, rather than 3:00 and 9:00 as is often the case in two-register chronographs.
The ref. 403.035 remained in production in its original configuration from 1999 to 2012. Because of such a long run, it's the most common Datograph. This is the reference that premiered to much fanfare at the 1999 Basel Fair and forced everyone who wasn't already aware of Lange – and by then, most connoisseurs were – to sit up and pay attention.
The Datograph UP/DOWN, known as "AUF/AB" in German, was introduced in December 2011. Its biggest update was the inclusion of a power reserve indicator at six o'clock. Other enhancements to the new Datograph include an increased case diameter of 41mm, up from the original 39mm, and an extended power reserve of 60 hours compared to the previous 38 hours.
One other aesthetic change was the replacement of Roman numerals on the dial with baton markers. Additionally, the size of the big date window has been increased by four percent to maintain the original proportions.
The updated column-wheel, flyback chronograph now features a larger mainspring barrel and an in-house balance spring, replacing the original Nivarox spring. The movement decoration, however, remains as stunning as ever.
You can view the complete catalog for the Phillips Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, Online Auction, right here.
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 reporting on every aspect of the watch business. 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.
Recommended Reading
A. Lange & Söhne Reveals One-of-a-Kind Datograph Up/Down “Hampton Court Edition”