Datograph
403.035
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| Brand : | A. Lange & Söhne |
| Collection : | Datograph |
| Model : | Datograph |
| Reference : | 403.035 |
| Complement : | Platinum |
| On sale : | 1999 |
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Brand : A. Lange & Söhne Collection : Datograph Model : Datograph Reference : 403.035 Complement : Platinum On sale : 1999 List Price : 62 900 € Diameter : 39 mm Thickness : 12.8 mm Styles : Sporty High Horology Types : Hand-winding Calibre : Lange L951.1 Calibre distinction : Hand-engraved Hand decorated Complication : 30-Minute Counter Stop second mechanism Big Date Flyback Chronograph Small Seconds Tachymeter Jumping Minute Counter Case material : Platinum Case peculiarity : Sapphire caseback Screwed-down caseback hardness 9 Shape : Round Dial : Solid silver Dial color : Black/Silver Display : Blued steel hands Hours and Minutes luminescent rodiumed gold hands Indexes : Baton-type Roman numerals Glass : Antireflective coating Sapphire hardness 9 Strap material : Crocodile leather Strap color : Black Strap clasp : Pin buckle + More characteristics : Movement
Precision-adjusted in five positions Plates and bridges made of untreated German silver
Balance cock engraved by hand
405 components
40 jewels
4 screwed gold chatons
Lever escapement
Shock-proofed glucydur screw balance
Nivarox 1 hairspring
Frequency :
18 000 semi-oscillations per hour Whiplash precision index adjuster with patented beat adjustment mechanism
Column-wheel mechanism
36 hours power reserve
Hand-stitched strap
DESCRIPTION
- The somewhat different chronograph is DATOGRAPH – only from Lange
Those who want to set new standards in building precious mechanical chronographs have to do many things differently nowadays, but they also have to do some things just as well as the masters did 100 years ago. Lange has met both of these challenges in the new DATOGRAPH. With a precision “jumping” minute counter, flyback mechanism, column-wheel gearing, 18,000 semi-oscillations, outsize date and an entirely new chronograph look.
Chronograph-making was already a tradition at “A. Lange & Söhne” in the 19th century. As early as 1868, Adolph Lange was building chronographs with a column-wheel construction. These early Lange pocket chronographs with stop mechanism are now sought-after treasures for watch collectors. There was no question that Lange would produce a chronograph in the wake of the company’s successful global comeback. The only question was, when, and with what delightful surprises for lovers of fine horology? The speculation began.
After four years of development, Lange is presenting its answer at the World Watch, Clock and Jewellery Fair in Basle: The DATOGRAPH. In brief, a new high-end chronograph with outsize date, precision “jumping” minute counter, flyback mechanism and all the horological traits that distinguish a superb watch in today’s market. The watchmakers from Saxony are closing out the 20th century with a virtuoso performance. The DATOGRAPH has all the right qualities to become one of the first classics of the third millennium. It sets new chronograph-making standards by combining the finest aspects of tradition and innovation while prudently maintaining the highest technical and artistic values, as do the other well-known watches from Lange. The result is a newly developed hand-wound chronograph movement comprising 390 individual parts and featuring traditional yet highly advanced mechanical solutions such as a column ratchet wheel, a precision “jumping” minute counter, a flyback function and a transparent design that shows off the typical architecture of Lange movements with its three-quarter plate and elegant escapement around the hand-engraved balance cock. The DATOGRAPH also includes the patented outsize date that is now actively inspiring the competition. The date is a “must”, given the timepiece name.
The DATOGRAPH has an unconventional, very fresh new look with unique characteristics such as offset subsidiary dials for the small seconds hand and the classic 30-minute counter. The balanced arrangement of the dials leaves room for the outsize date mechanism and makes up the visually striking equilateral triangle that gives the DATOGRAPH such an inimitable face. The tachometer scale and the luminous gold hour and minute hands add a complementary dynamic that is heightened by the split levels of the precious two-part dial in solid silver. The two subtly rounded chronograph buttons with the traditional square cross section correspond with the push-piece for correcting the outsize date. The design of the solid, three-part platinum case with the anti-reflection-coated sapphire-crystal glass bears the unpretentious signature that became one of the hallmarks of Lange watches following the company’s revival in 1994.
Datographics part two: The details
A glance through the sapphire-crystal caseback – secured by six screws, incidentally – at the calibre L951.1 movement is not only an aesthetic epiphany for fanciers of the finest in watchmaking: It also answers the questions raised on the front side. How does a top-class chronograph movement work? What about the ratchet-wheel assembly ? What are the mechanisms of the precision “jumping” minute counter and the flyback gearing ?
The design of the movement aims for the greatest possible transparency, precision engineering in miniature, and holds numerous intriguing details for the connoisseur. Foremost among them is the precision “jumping” minute counter, which springs forward one notch at the precise moment when the centre stop hand of the chronograph passes 60 seconds.
This intricate mechanism, controlled by a stepped pinion, was once used only in very expensive pocket watches and in very few top-flight wristwatch chronographs until the 1940s, but in recent decades it has been sacrificed to cost-consciousness. The “precisely jumping” minute counter simplifies the doubt-free measurement of lap times.
Lange not only accepted the challenge of truly accurate counting but also integrated it into the DATOGRAPH and even advanced its development one step further. An adjustable switching lever is provided to very precisely set the jump point of the minute counter at the zero crossing point of the central stop hand without requiring the disassembly of the movement. A patent is pending for this ingenious invention.
The flyback mechanism, used not only in aviation and sports, makes it possible during an ongoing time measurement to reset the chronograph hands to zero with a single push of a button and to restart them instantly by releasing the button. This feature saves time because the flyback mechanism simply skips the stop, reset and restart manipulations for which two buttons are normally needed. This extra function is rarely implemented today. A look inside the movement reveals how it works.
Numerous other details of design and craftsmanship in this newly developed movement show that Lange was intent on raising the much-talked-about subject of chronographs to a new level of quality. Apart from the remarkable functional elements described above, the DATOGRAPH has an unprecedented range of additional features:
• A separate and independent fourth-wheel bridge
• A chronograph switching lever with a sturdy shaft secured by calliper bearings
• An adjustable chrono coupling lever in the centre of the fourth wheel
• A minute-counter switching lever held and guided between jewel bearings like a wheel
• A stepped pinion for the precise release of the minute-counter switching lever with its ruby sliding head
• A four-jewelled bearing for the escape wheel
• An independent escape wheel bridge
• A shock-proofed, oversized screw balance with a Nivarox 1 hairspring and a shaped overcoil beating at the tried-and-true 18,000 semi-oscillations like the classic Lange pocket chronographs
And of course the DATOGRAPH, despite having a movement only 30 mm in diameter and 7.5 mm high, includes all the hallmarks of Lange’s watchmaking artistry: Plates and bridges in damascened silver, elegantly filigreed with circular graining and Glashütte ribbing. The edges are chamfered and polished in visual contrast to the faceted blued screws. And in the DATOGRAPH too, the masterful lines of the hand- engraved balance cock make every movement unique. The whiplash precision regulator and all steel chronograph levers, but also the imposing column wheel and the numerous springs, are all precision-ground and, where their function permits, additionally chamfered and polished. The polished, black cover plate adds a beautiful accent to the escape-wheel bridge. As aesthetic finishing touches to this movement,
the gold chatons held by blued screws are sumptuous highlights of contemporary chronograph-making. These are features found only in Lange timepieces.
With its DATOGRAPH, Lange has now completed the development of its fifth all-new echanical movement since the company was re-established by Walter Lange in 1990. The movements derived from these five originals to fit the shape and functionality of the different Lange watches make up an impressive palette of 12 top-class mechanical movements. his places Lange among the handful of watchmakers world-wide that exclusively use their own movements. And at the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, only very few of them still master the art of chronograph-making. But only one of them crafts a watch like the DATOGRAPH: LANGE.
The question, as we mentioned, was not whether Lange would produce a new chronograph, but when and how.
- The somewhat different chronograph is DATOGRAPH – only from Lange
Those who want to set new standards in building precious mechanical chronographs have to do many things differently nowadays, but they also have to do some things just as well as the masters did 100 years ago. Lange has met both of these challenges in the new DATOGRAPH. With a precision “jumping” minute counter, flyback mechanism, column-wheel gearing, 18,000 semi-oscillations, outsize date and an entirely new chronograph look.
Chronograph-making was already a tradition at “A. Lange & Söhne” in the 19th century. As early as 1868, Adolph Lange was building chronographs with a column-wheel construction. These early Lange pocket chronographs with stop mechanism are now sought-after treasures for watch collectors. There was no question that Lange would produce a chronograph in the wake of the company’s successful global comeback. The only question was, when, and with what delightful surprises for lovers of fine horology? The speculation began.
After four years of development, Lange is presenting its answer at the World Watch, Clock and Jewellery Fair in Basle: The DATOGRAPH. In brief, a new high-end chronograph with outsize date, precision “jumping” minute counter, flyback mechanism and all the horological traits that distinguish a superb watch in today’s market. The watchmakers from Saxony are closing out the 20th century with a virtuoso performance. The DATOGRAPH has all the right qualities to become one of the first classics of the third millennium. It sets new chronograph-making standards by combining the finest aspects of tradition and innovation while prudently maintaining the highest technical and artistic values, as do the other well-known watches from Lange. The result is a newly developed hand-wound chronograph movement comprising 390 individual parts and featuring traditional yet highly advanced mechanical solutions such as a column ratchet wheel, a precision “jumping” minute counter, a flyback function and a transparent design that shows off the typical architecture of Lange movements with its three-quarter plate and elegant escapement around the hand-engraved balance cock. The DATOGRAPH also includes the patented outsize date that is now actively inspiring the competition. The date is a “must”, given the timepiece name.
The DATOGRAPH has an unconventional, very fresh new look with unique characteristics such as offset subsidiary dials for the small seconds hand and the classic 30-minute counter. The balanced arrangement of the dials leaves room for the outsize date mechanism and makes up the visually striking equilateral triangle that gives the DATOGRAPH such an inimitable face. The tachometer scale and the luminous gold hour and minute hands add a complementary dynamic that is heightened by the split levels of the precious two-part dial in solid silver. The two subtly rounded chronograph buttons with the traditional square cross section correspond with the push-piece for correcting the outsize date. The design of the solid, three-part platinum case with the anti-reflection-coated sapphire-crystal glass bears the unpretentious signature that became one of the hallmarks of Lange watches following the company’s revival in 1994.
Datographics part two: The details
A glance through the sapphire-crystal caseback – secured by six screws, incidentally – at the calibre L951.1 movement is not only an aesthetic epiphany for fanciers of the finest in watchmaking: It also answers the questions raised on the front side. How does a top-class chronograph movement work? What about the ratchet-wheel assembly ? What are the mechanisms of the precision “jumping” minute counter and the flyback gearing ?
The design of the movement aims for the greatest possible transparency, precision engineering in miniature, and holds numerous intriguing details for the connoisseur. Foremost among them is the precision “jumping” minute counter, which springs forward one notch at the precise moment when the centre stop hand of the chronograph passes 60 seconds.
This intricate mechanism, controlled by a stepped pinion, was once used only in very expensive pocket watches and in very few top-flight wristwatch chronographs until the 1940s, but in recent decades it has been sacrificed to cost-consciousness. The “precisely jumping” minute counter simplifies the doubt-free measurement of lap times.
Lange not only accepted the challenge of truly accurate counting but also integrated it into the DATOGRAPH and even advanced its development one step further. An adjustable switching lever is provided to very precisely set the jump point of the minute counter at the zero crossing point of the central stop hand without requiring the disassembly of the movement. A patent is pending for this ingenious invention.
The flyback mechanism, used not only in aviation and sports, makes it possible during an ongoing time measurement to reset the chronograph hands to zero with a single push of a button and to restart them instantly by releasing the button. This feature saves time because the flyback mechanism simply skips the stop, reset and restart manipulations for which two buttons are normally needed. This extra function is rarely implemented today. A look inside the movement reveals how it works.
Numerous other details of design and craftsmanship in this newly developed movement show that Lange was intent on raising the much-talked-about subject of chronographs to a new level of quality. Apart from the remarkable functional elements described above, the DATOGRAPH has an unprecedented range of additional features:
• A separate and independent fourth-wheel bridge
• A chronograph switching lever with a sturdy shaft secured by calliper bearings
• An adjustable chrono coupling lever in the centre of the fourth wheel
• A minute-counter switching lever held and guided between jewel bearings like a wheel
• A stepped pinion for the precise release of the minute-counter switching lever with its ruby sliding head
• A four-jewelled bearing for the escape wheel
• An independent escape wheel bridge
• A shock-proofed, oversized screw balance with a Nivarox 1 hairspring and a shaped overcoil beating at the tried-and-true 18,000 semi-oscillations like the classic Lange pocket chronographs
And of course the DATOGRAPH, despite having a movement only 30 mm in diameter and 7.5 mm high, includes all the hallmarks of Lange’s watchmaking artistry: Plates and bridges in damascened silver, elegantly filigreed with circular graining and Glashütte ribbing. The edges are chamfered and polished in visual contrast to the faceted blued screws. And in the DATOGRAPH too, the masterful lines of the hand- engraved balance cock make every movement unique. The whiplash precision regulator and all steel chronograph levers, but also the imposing column wheel and the numerous springs, are all precision-ground and, where their function permits, additionally chamfered and polished. The polished, black cover plate adds a beautiful accent to the escape-wheel bridge. As aesthetic finishing touches to this movement,
the gold chatons held by blued screws are sumptuous highlights of contemporary chronograph-making. These are features found only in Lange timepieces.
With its DATOGRAPH, Lange has now completed the development of its fifth all-new echanical movement since the company was re-established by Walter Lange in 1990. The movements derived from these five originals to fit the shape and functionality of the different Lange watches make up an impressive palette of 12 top-class mechanical movements. his places Lange among the handful of watchmakers world-wide that exclusively use their own movements. And at the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, only very few of them still master the art of chronograph-making. But only one of them crafts a watch like the DATOGRAPH: LANGE.
The question, as we mentioned, was not whether Lange would produce a new chronograph, but when and how.
-
Brand : A. Lange & Söhne Collection : Datograph Model : Datograph Reference : 403.035 Complement : Platinum On sale : 1999 List Price : 62 900 € Diameter : 39 mm Thickness : 12.8 mm Styles : Sporty High Horology Types : Hand-winding Calibre : Lange L951.1 Calibre distinction : Hand-engraved Hand decorated Complication : 30-Minute Counter Stop second mechanism Big Date Flyback Chronograph Small Seconds Tachymeter Jumping Minute Counter Case material : Platinum Case peculiarity : Sapphire caseback Screwed-down caseback hardness 9 Shape : Round Dial : Solid silver Dial color : Black/Silver Display : Blued steel hands Hours and Minutes luminescent rodiumed gold hands Indexes : Baton-type Roman numerals Glass : Antireflective coating Sapphire hardness 9 Strap material : Crocodile leather Strap color : Black Strap clasp : Pin buckle More characteristics : Movement
Precision-adjusted in five positions Plates and bridges made of untreated German silver
Balance cock engraved by hand
405 components
40 jewels
4 screwed gold chatons
Lever escapement
Shock-proofed glucydur screw balance
Nivarox 1 hairspring
Frequency :
18 000 semi-oscillations per hour Whiplash precision index adjuster with patented beat adjustment mechanism
Column-wheel mechanism
36 hours power reserve
Hand-stitched strap