The Fine Art of Writing TimeA. Lange & Söhne: the New 1815 CHRONOGRAPH
Hardly any other watch manifests the union of tradition and inventiveness as well as of legendary beauty and advanced technology as remarkably as Lange’s 1815 CHRONOGRAPH. The dial reflects the subtle arrangement of indications shared by A. Lange & Söhne’s coveted historic pocket watches, of which some 700 were already configured as chronographs. The two symmetrically positioned subsidiary dials for the seconds and 30-minute counter emphasise the balanced geometry and the classic style of the watch. The vintage railway-track scale at the periphery of the dial assures superb legibility of stopped times to one-fifth of a second. The precisely jumping minute counter also simplifies time measurements.
The sleek, elegant looks of the watch contrast with the intricacy of the calibre L951.5 chronograph movement with column-wheel control and a stepped pinion for the precisely jumping minute counter. One of the highlights among the numerous technical features is the flyback function, a device found only in very few chronographs. With one single push piece, the 1815 CHRONOGRAPH can be stopped and reset in the middle of a time measurement. And a new measurement is started as soon as the push piece is released again.
A large mainspring barrel delivers a sizable power reserve of 60 hours. Rate stability is ensured by the large balance wheel with eccentric poising weights. It is powered by a balance spring developed and manufactured in-house and reciprocates with a frequency of 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour.
The sapphire-crystal caseback reveals one of the technically most exquisite and at the same time most beautiful chronograph mechanisms ever made. It showcases most of the technical and artisanal details, including the stepped pinion for the precisely jumping minute counter, the column wheel that controls the chronograph functions, and the precision beat adjustment system with its whiplash spring on the hand-engraved balance cock. This is state-of-the-art chronography at its absolute best.