The inception of the A Lange & Sohne Lange 1 Time Zone was in 2005, and it took 15 years for it to receive a significant mechanical update. It is difficult, though, to tell at first glance, as the 2020 version looks much the same as the original. It is the same size, at 41.9mm across and 10.9mm thick. The main dial elements seem unchanged, with the Lange 1’s trademark offset layout which includes an oversize date to the top-right, a subdial to the lower-right, and power indicator between them.
But of course, as is always the case with A Lange & Sohne, it is all in the details. The Time Zone was remarkable in the way it carried a lot of information but kept it legible – and, perhaps more impressively, maintained a clean, precise aesthetic. The broader functions of the new in-house calibre are identical to the older one. The main dial is home time, while the smaller dial is tied to the city ring and can be quickly adjusted via the pusher at 8 o’clock.
The main evolution is that the day/night indicators on both dials have been changed from rotating arrow hands to centrally positioned ring-shaped indicators. These rotate once per 24 hours, while the hour hand does its usual 12-hour revolution; the result is the hour hand will be over the blank portion during the day, from 6am to 6pm, and over the blue portion at night, from 6pm to 6am. Its astoundingly simple but incredibly intuitive, while the pleasingly concentric look is even cleaner than the old design.
Another tiny, but indisputably useful new feature is the aperture on the golden applique arrow that points to the city disc. When this aperture is filled in with red, it indicates that the city in question observes daylight savings time – a final sanity check for the jet-lagged traveller that will hopefully prevent any unfortunate mishaps.
The new Lange 1 Time Zone is available in three options: white gold with black dial (RM206,000), pink gold with silver dial (RM206,000) and the 100-piece limited yellow gold with silver dial (RM218,000).
