HANDS-ON: Spending An Hour With A Memorizing Wristwatch @Timecrafters2014
After a hectic, but exciting two days at Timecrafters, I stopped by one of my top-ten favorite watch booths, A. Lange & Sohne. While I was there, I viewed some of the newest additions to the collection, all from Geneva’s SIHH 2014. I found that I took a strong liking to the astonishingly complicated Richard Lange “Terraluna.” This exceptional piece features two important complications, including a perpetual calendar and a magnificent orbital moon-phase display that is almost reminiscent of Patek’s Sky Moon Tourbillon’s celestial dial, but much more accurate and, interestingly enough, much smaller (a more sensible size). In addition, for those times you’re too lazy to wind your watch, Lange included a power reserve of exactly fourteen days. Also, the manufacture includes their signature Lange “Outside Date” that can be easily read just by looking at the top half of the dial.
This piece is offered in two precious metals, pink gold and white gold. There is no difference between the two variations with the exception of the strap colors and hand colors. The movement is an in-house Lange caliber L096.1, a manual wind, precise movement with a twin mainspring barrel and a constant-force escapement with an, also in-house, remontoir spring. The movement is crafted of the finest, untreated German silver anyone can get their hands on.
The watch sits well on any wrist, large or small, despite its 16.55-millimeter height and 45.5-millimeter diameter. The retail price on the pink gold version is $229,900, while the white gold version is slightly more expensive at $230,450. I definitely think it’s worth spending a bit more for the white gold model. Not only is a white gold watch discreet, but very elegant, it is also generally worth more down the road than any other metal besides platinum.
Luke Rottman (Executive Editor: thewatchadviser.com)