Rare version achieves sensational increase in value at Phillips
An extremely rare stainless-steel model of the LANGE 1 from the 1990s was auctioned for 343,750 US dollars.
A LANGE 1 in stainless steel is as rare as it is coveted. On 10 December 2019, one of the few timepieces with the reference 101.026 changed hands at the Game Changers auction of Phillips in New York for 343,750 US dollars (about 310,250 euros). From the mid-1990s, only a few timepieces in this version, which has never been offered in the catalogue, were produced. Case and buckle are made of stainless steel and the hands of blued steel. Equipped with the manufacture calibre L901.0, all functions correspond to those of the LANGE 1 in gold, which at the time had a price of about 14,600 euros. On this basis, the LANGE 1 now offered in New York was sold for more than twenty times its original price. As recently as last month, a corresponding model was auctioned at Auctions Dr. Crott in Frankfurt for 218,000 euros.
About A. Lange & Söhne
Dresden watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange laid the cornerstone of Saxony’s precision watchmaking industry when he established his manufactory in 1845. His precious pocket watches remain highly coveted among collectors all over the world. The company was expropriated after World War II, and the name A. Lange & Söhne nearly vanished. In 1990, Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s great-grandson Walter Lange had the courage to make a new start. Today, Lange crafts only a few thousand wristwatches – mainly in gold or platinum – per year. They are endowed exclusively with proprietary movements that are lavishly decorated and assembled twice by hand. With 64 manufacture calibres developed since 1994, A. Lange & Söhne has secured a top-tier position in the world of watchmaking. Brand icons such as the LANGE 1 with the first outsize date in a regularly produced wristwatch and the ZEITWERK with its precisely jumping numerals display rank among the company’s great successes. Exceptional complications such as the ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER, the DATOGRAPH PERPETUAL TOURBILLON and the TRIPLE SPLIT reflect the manufactory’s determination to achieve ever new pinnacles in horological artistry.
