Introducing: The A. Lange & Söhne Minute Repeater Perpetual (Live Pictures, Thoughts, And Comparisons)
Skip to Main Content [enter] Introducing The A. Lange & Söhne Minute Repeater Perpetual (Live Pictures, Thoughts, And Comparisons) Ben's thoughts on where this grand complication sits relative to its cross-border rival and reigning champ in the category, the Patek Philippe 5374G. According to some, even some here in this office, the era of great appeal for grand complications has passed. Now, naturally, the average consumer wants a watch that says something about him or herself quickly, without having to explain to anyone that they are a person of great means, intellect, taste, and of course, access. Steel Rolex watches, a Nautilus, an Aquanaut, and in the world of Lange, an Odysseus are what we would call "super high demand" watches, while complicated watches – not so much. Now that is a handsome watch. And I fully understand the transition – as I was a part of it – casual watches are simply more fun to wear and own, and less expensive, to boot. But every now and again, a great brand can dip a toe into grand complications that will break through the noise. It's not easy to do, because complicated watches on straps are somewhat out of vogue, and beyond that, the average watch consumer – you know, those that've joined us in the past 5 year or so – haven't really been exposed to a world where complications matter so they've not taken the time to learn just how much is required to make something like a great perpetual calendar. It is indeed why we here at Hodinkee produce videos like this one, which ran last week on AP's new perpetual calendar. Today in Geneva, A. Lange & Söhne, arguably one of the few scaled watchmakers for which I hold great regard, produced a grand complication wristwatch with two of my favorite, most fanciful complications combined into one: a perpetual calendar with a minute repeater. The moment I heard they'd be combining these two comps, I thought back to 2013, when Lange introduced the 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar – because I wrote back then like I will again today, that this new Lange is simply remarkable, and it has but one peer, and that peer comes from Patek Philippe. Indeed, like the Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar, the minute repeating perpetual is a combination of complication that, if one thinks about at all, one thinks of Patek Philippe. Until today. This dial is black enamel, and consisting of four distinct pieces! The A. Lange & Sohne Perpetual Calendar Repeater - yes that is it's full name, it is not part of the 1815 or Richard Lange families – is a 40.5mm by 12.1mm hand wound minute repeating perpetual calendar with big date and four piece black enamel dial. There will be only 50 pieces made, and the case is platinum. It is not the first minute repeater from Lange: the Zeitwerk, Richard Lange (my fave), and Grand Complication came before it. Out of the three, this new watch shares a basic fundamental architecture with 2022's Richard Lange repeater, but Lange is quick to point out this is not a simple perpetual mechanism added atop, and indeed, they are correct. The watch is just three millimeters thicker and less than a millimeter larger in diameter, and it now features a full perpetual mechanism and big date, which is notoriously thick to add to any watch. Did you expect it to look Swiss? You shouldn't, because this is Lange! It is clear this caliber, L122.2, with its 640 components, each hand finished to the highest standards accomplishes something new entirely by combining these two complications elegantly – for 12.1mm on a watch like this is very impressive. But this is a great place to dive into how this watch compares to what is the only meaningful comp on the market, Patek Philippe's reference 5374G. Patek's 5374G is white gold with blue enamel dial, while the Lange is platinum with a black enamel dial. The 5374G follows the great line of the 5074 and 3974 in the family of repeating perpetuals, and it is but 12.2mm thick and self winding. Does one prefer an automatic or manual perpetual repeater? From a wearability perspective, certainly automatic, for refinement, I would say manual. With the manual movement, one can also see a great bit more of the hand work, too. Patek caliber R 27 Q from the 5374G takes on a dramatically different look than the Lange caliber L122.2 from the new perpetual repeater. Having said that, my mind's eye is still more accustomed to seeing traditional Swiss style finishing on a repeater caliber and I am more drawn to the aesthetics of the Patek's movement, though the Lange, frankly, has meaningful technical superiority. Some highlights include: "To optimise the operation and functionality of the classic minute repeater, the striking mechanism was enhanced with further intricate devices, among these the pause elimination feature. It skips the pause between the hour and minute strike when no double tone must be struck for the quarter hours in the first 14 minutes after the top of the hour. To prevent damage to the chiming mechanism, it was also equipped with a safety device so that the minute repeater cannot be activated while the crown is pulled. Consequently, the crown cannot be pulled when the chiming mechanism is active. Finally, the patented hammer blocker causes the hammers to dwell in their home position for a fraction of a second after the gongs have been struck. Thus, the re-bounding hammers cannot bounce and strike the gongs again." There is almost no audible governor, which is often a complaint about other repeaters – you hear a buzzing sound behind the chiming – with Lange, you do not. The finishing is completely artisanal, with black polshed hammers. The governor on this watch is completely silent. The balance cock is free-hand engraved. The caliber, which you can see in these beautiful images taken by my colleague Mark, is made primarily of untreated German silver, and finished in a genuinely artisanal way. The hammers are black polished and stunning. The balance cock is engraved in a true free-hand method. It is, as I mentioned above an absolutely beautiful movement, but perhaps not as romantic a caliber as the sweeping, fluid lines seen on Patek's repeating mechanism. This is purely subjective, and doesn't speak to the technical advantages to the Lange. An outsized date adds a lot of depth quickly, and its impressive how thin this watch is, considering. On to the dial, we have one made of black enamel, with outsized date. A perpetual calendar's primary role is to indeed tell you the date, and no one does it better than a grand date from Lange. I have been a particularly die-hard fan of Lange's use of black enamel on its flagship watches dating back 11 years to the introduction of the Lange 1 Handwerkskunst. Then, Lange told of how challenging black enamel can be, and since then they've gotten only that much more proficient at it – because this dial is now made completely in-house at Lange, and it consists of four separate parts of enamel. It is absolutely stunning in its rich, glossy, purity. The perpetual may be advanced with a single pusher (though not from the crown). The moon is gold, the 100 stars surrounding it, hand engraved. The two stand-outs here on the dial are the iconic grand date, and the simply stunning moonphase. The two moons are solid gold, and the night sky features 100 hand-engraved stars. The depth of the multi-faceted, black enamel work is, again, just stunning. This is a perpetual calendar, of course, and though it doesn't have the ability to be crown set like AP's new caliber, the entire mechanism can be set by a single adjuster, which is as good as you'll find anywhere on a manual perpetual. Nothing is more chic to me than a repeater slide hidden under the shirt cuff. And most importantly – how does it sound? Well, first, the case is purposefully platinum, which is an interesting choice because the old guard would have you believe that white gold is actually the "best" metal for a repeater, though, I'm not sure that's ever been confirmed in any way. The sound is remarkably clear and crisp, with a wonderfully concise rhythm that is timed perfectly relative to other repeaters I've heard. I really believe the almost silent governor and the ingenious "skipping" of the quarter hours makes for one of the best repeaters on the market. 40mm with a watch this complicated is impressive. How does it wear? For a watch this complicated, incredibly well. It's only 40mm x 12mm, which is to it's basically the size of a last generation Rolex Submariner...but in platinum, with a perpetual calendar and minute repeater. And this is where it really elevates itself above the Patek 5374G, which is 42mm in diameter, a size that I've always felt really felt a bit out of place considering the "classic-ness" of the complications. Beyond that, the Lange caliber is brand new and engineered explicitly for this case, where as Patek's self-winding repeating mechanism, as lovely and classic as it is, is old, and though we have cathedral gongs, a bit small for the case if I were to nitpick. What's more Patek is clear to state on its website that the 5374's "case is humidity and dust protected only (not water resistant)." The Lange? Officially rated to 20 meters! Though I'm told, it's actually good to 30 meters, but they wanted to be conservative in the stats, because they absolutely do not recommend anyone take this watch into water. What they have done, though, in the most Lange of ways, is actually include gaskets to make the watch something you can actually live with! It's counter intuitive to seal a watch that is all about letting sound out of a case, but this is Lange, and they believe they've found the perfect combination of sound volume, pitch, and quality with wearability. They claim that unsealed repeaters are notoriously fickle, especially in high humidity areas like Miami, Hong Kong, and Singapore – frankly all areas that have an alarmingly high amount of repeaters. This is the type of stuff I love about Lange. Quite famously, and hilariously, the minute repeating Aquanat from last year is also only dust resistant, not water resistant. If you'd told me that Lange would make a dress watch more water resistant than an Aquanaut, I would've thought you were kidding. The A Lange & Söhne Minutre Repeater Perpetual challenges Patek Philippe on its home tuff. And that's great news for watch lovers. So in summary, the Lange Minute Repeater Perpetual has a lot to offer into this category that has been, until today, completely dominated by Patek Philippe. Relative to the 5374G, the Lange is smaller in diameter, with a more robust date mechanism, more legible, more complex enamel dial. It is more robust in that it is rated to 2ATM, and actually, I do believe it will be priced slightly less than Patek's roughly $742,000 retail price (655'100 CHF), though I will confirm that. Whether you like the sound of the Patek versus the Lange, and whether you prefer platinum versus white gold, those are subjective qualities that I leave to the buyer. Where Patek shines is the fact that it is automatic (as you know, perpetuals that are manual are a pet peeve of mine if you actually intend to wear your watch), and while the finishing is exemplary on the Lange, I prefer the traditional Swiss finishing and architecture of the Patek – but that simply could be decades of exposure to the Patek repeater family. As for actually buying a repeater, life can be challenging. The Patek repeater is a "hard application" piece, and this Lange will be made in just 50 pieces, forever. So we're talking the thinnest of air in the modern watch world, but it's still fun to dream, isn't it? What would I buy myself? Frankly neither, my two favorite repeaters are the discontinued 5078G-001 with white enamel dial, and the Richard Lange repeater, also all completely sold out. I am just not a multi-complication watch guy, really. But if forced to pick, I would choose this new Lange over the 5374 due to the more restrained diameter, more technically advanced movement, and existence of even a modicum of water resistance. Given full reign, though? I'd be all over a 3974P, one of these, or one of these. Still, for a contemporary high complication wristwatch, Lange has delivered what it always delivers: something beautiful, restrained in the right way, and technically advanced, but never to the detriment of supreme wearability. It is certainly a stand out of Watches and Wonders 2024. Click here for more information.