The First Founding

Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded A. Lange & Söhne in the Saxon town of Glashütte in 1845, after apprenticing with master watchmaker Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes in Dresden. With just 15 workers — mostly stonemasons and farmers — Lange taught his team from scratch and in doing so founded the entire Glashütte watchmaking industry.

Destruction & Rebirth

The company flourished for a century. Then, in April 1945, Allied bombing destroyed the Lange factory. Soviet expropriation in 1948 removed the Lange name from watch dials entirely. For 42 years, the name disappeared. The fall of the Berlin Wall changed everything: Walter Lange, the great-grandson of the founder, rebuilt the company from the ground up.

The 1994 Unveiling

On 7 October 1994 — exactly 149 years after the original founding — four new Lange models were unveiled at a Dresden ceremony: the Lange 1, the Tourbograph, the Saxonia and the Arkade. The watch world was astonished. The Lange 1's asymmetric dial with its outsize date display instantly became one of the most distinctive designs in all of watchmaking.

Craftsmanship

Every A. Lange & Söhne watch is assembled twice: once to test the movement, then disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled before delivery. Movements feature three-quarter plates in untreated German silver, hand-engraved balance cocks, and blued screws. All watches are made exclusively in gold, platinum or rose gold — stainless steel is never used. Annual production is estimated at fewer than 5,000 pieces.

Prices

Prices begin at approximately $15,000 for the Saxonia and rise to over $500,000 for grand complications. The Datograph perpetual calendar and tourbillon pieces are among the most technically accomplished watches made anywhere. A. Lange & Söhne is part of the Richemont Group.