Manufacturer: A. Lange & Söhne Year: Circa 2002 Reference No: 221.027 Movement No: 13’826 Case No: 118’789 Model Name: 1815 Up/Down Material: 18k white gold Calibre: Automatic, cal. L942.1, 27 jewels Bracelet/Strap: Alligator Clasp/Buckle: 18k white gold Lange buckle Dimensions: 36mm Diameter Signed: Case, dial, movement and buckle signed Accessories: Accompanied by A. Lange & Söhne slip case.
Catalogue Essay
A Lange & Söhne’s 1815 collection is a modern day tribute to founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange who was born in 1815. It honors his exacting standards and precision quality with movements resembling pocket watches made during his time with three-quarter plate movement, blued screws and gold chatons. Lange worked diligently to consistently reproduce movements in a move toward standardization and better timekeeping. In 1879, A. Lange & Söhne was granted patent number 9349 for a device for pocket watches to indicate how much time remained before a watch was fully unwound.
The 1815 Up/Down is reminiscent of chronometers with a power reserve, which were originally featured on chronometers. First released in 1995, the white gold version with blue dial like the present watch is an elegant and classic timepiece. The clean dial with the power reserve and subsidiary seconds at the 8 and 4 positions respectively is clear and easy to read. The watch has a refined style that is quintessential A. Lange & Söhne and wears comfortably on the wrist. In excellent overall condition this is a refined watch that meets the standards of the most discriminating collector.
Originally founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in Glashütte, Dresden, Germany, the firm established an entire watchmaking culture and industry in Glashütte. The brand quickly became Germany's finest watchmaker, first creating dependable, easy-to-repair watches before going on to produce some of the world's finest complicated pocket watches, including Grande Sonnerie watches, tourbillon watches and Grande Complications.
On the final day of World War II, their factories were destroyed by Russian bombers, and in 1948 the brand was confiscated by the Soviet Union. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, Ferdinand's great grandson Walter Lange re-established the brand with the objective to once again produce top-quality luxury watches. Now part of the Richemont Group, its original vintage and modern creations are highly coveted by collectors. Key models from the modern era include the Lange 1, Pour Le Mérite Tourbillon and the Zeitwerk.