The editorial team of Chronos Japan covered Watches & Wonders 2025, the watch industry's new product exhibition. This article, originally published in our magazine with the title "New watches that shone in Geneva: The keywords are 'color' and 'small diameter,'" is now republished on webChronos. The brand featured this time is A. Lange & Söhne, which has been quiet this year but has released new products of high quality.
Photographs by Yu Mitamura, Ryotaro Horiuchi
Masamasa Hirota (this magazine): Interview and writing
Text by Masayuki Hirota (Chronos-Japan)
Edited by Yuto Hosoda (Chronos-Japan)
[Article published in the July 2025 issue of Kronos Japan]
The highlight of 2025 is the new 34mm 1815
It's essentially A. Lange & Söhne's "all-inclusive" watch. The long-awaited enamel dial is perhaps the best in A. Lange & Söhne's history. At the very least, the sound quality of the repeater is even better tuned than Richard's. However, it's extremely expensive. Manual winding (Cal. L122.2). 54 jewels. 21,600 vph. Power reserve of approximately 72 hours. Pt case (diameter 40.5mm, thickness 12.1mm). Water resistant to 20m. Limited to 50 pieces worldwide. Price upon request.
A. Lange & Söhne consistently produces few new products each year. There are only three new models for 2025, but all of them are highly refined. The highlight of this year is the Minute Repeater Perpetual, which combines a perpetual calendar and a repeater. The movement is based on the Richard Lange and has been significantly improved. The mechanism that prevents the repeater from ringing when the crown is pulled and the system for passing the quarter are also the same. However, the inertia governor has been revised to reduce resistance. Incidentally, the dial is a black cloisonné enamel. Tino Beauvais said, "This dial is more expensive than most of the watches at the venue."
The new 1815, eagerly awaited by watch enthusiasts, houses a newly designed hand-wound movement in a small case. Personally, I think it's the best 1815 ever, including its size. Perhaps due to the smaller diameter and reduced gold content, the price is also strategic. Hand-wound (Cal. L152.1). 21 jewels. 21,600 vph. Power reserve of approximately 72 hours. 18K white gold case (34.0mm diameter, 6.4mm thick). Water resistant to 3 bar. Price subject to availability.
This is the PG version. The Cal. L152.1 movement has an enlarged barrel diameter and accommodates a longer mainspring, significantly extending the power reserve. The manual winding feel is also full of the refinement you'd expect from A. Lange & Söhne. The quality of the interior and exterior is impeccable. 21 jewels. 21,600 vph. Power reserve of approximately 72 hours. 18KPG case (34.0mm diameter, 6.4mm thick). Water resistant to 3 bar. Price upon request.
The one that personally caught my eye was the small-diameter "1815." Its 34mm diameter, 6.4mm thick case houses a new movement measuring 28.1mm in diameter and 2.9mm thick. With a larger balance wheel moment of inertia and a power reserve of approximately 72 hours, it's one of the most desirable hand-wound movements available today. And it's reasonably priced. Finally, there's the honey gold "Odysseus." This material, which cannot be welded, is ideal for the Odysseus, whose exterior components are all screwed together.
All exterior parts of the Odysseus are screwed in place, making them easier to polish during repairs. The use of honey gold, which is not suitable for welding, is a reasonable choice. Automatic movement (Cal. L155.1DATOMATIC). 31 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve of approximately 50 hours. 18K honey gold case (diameter 40.5mm, thickness 11.1mm). Water resistant to 12 bar. Price upon request.
Interview with Anthony de Haas
With this year's Minute Repeater Perpetual, A. Lange & Söhne has achieved what collectors consider to be a "full-pack" watch: a minute repeater with a perpetual calendar. Anthony de Haas, who appeared to explain the watch, began his talk by saying, "Repeaters are classics; there's nothing special about them." He continued, "The repeater mechanism itself hasn't changed much from the Richard Lange Minute Repeater. But it's not as simple as people think."
We want to walk our own path in developing repeat customers.
A. Lange & Söhne Product Development Director. Born in the Netherlands in 1967. After graduating from a watchmaking school in Switzerland, he joined Seiko Netherlands. In 97, he worked in after-sales service at IWC, and in 1999 he joined Renaud & Papies (now Manufacture des Seigneurs). He was invited to join A. Lange & Söhne in 04. Since 05, he has been in charge of all product development. His motto is "never rehash the past."
"I was asked if we had reused the movement used in the Richard Lange Minute Repeater or the Langematik Perpetual, but that's not the case. If we had used the original movement as is, the case would have been 14mm thick. However, this time we have kept it to 12mm thick."
However, the perpetual calendar itself is not particularly new. "This time, we have once again adopted a mechanism called a crown wheel, a disk that rotates once per month to change all the calendar settings. We have applied the same mechanism used in the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon and Langematik Perpetual to this model as well." Rather, what is noteworthy is the significant revision of the repeater movement that served as the base.
"After all, it wouldn't be interesting if it was left as is. This time, in order to make the mechanism thinner, we partially integrated the perpetual calendar into the base repeater movement. It's not a module. We adjusted the position of the rack and changed the layout of the parts accordingly," he said, listing other improvements.
"The gong itself hasn't changed much, but we've made the case lighter and thinner," he says. In other words, the acoustics have been improved. "In this model, the gong is not fixed to the bezel, but to the resonant space inside the case. This allows us to adjust the volume so that there is no difference between when the watch is held in the hand and when it is worn on the wrist." De Haas played the watch for us, and there was indeed no significant difference in volume between when it was on the wrist and when it was not. In addition, the flying governor (centrifugal control mechanism) that controls the speed of the repeater has also been changed.
"The governor of the Richard Lange is located under the bridge, but in the new model it has been moved above the bridge. This shortened the length of the governor bearing and successfully reduced excess vibration during regulation." This is perhaps to be expected considering the price, but the fact that a complete overhaul was ultimately undertaken is typical of A. Lange & Söhne.
"At A. Lange & Söhne, we don't have 50 or 60 years of experience in developing repeater watches like other companies. We have only 10 to 12 years at most. But we've always learned and developed our own unique methods. We don't want to imitate others, but rather walk our own path."
