The New, Compact 36mm A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Annual Calendar

The Saxonia Annual Calendar is a relatively young but important member of A. Lange & Söhne’s repertoire. Launched in 2010 as an “everyday” complication, the annual calendar offers a more practical, slightly less complex alternative to the brand’s high-end perpetual calendars while maintaining Lange’s classic Saxon aesthetics. Initially available in 38.5mm cases – but discontinued between 2021 and 2022 – Lange releases a new, more compact 36mm size (following the trend of last year’s 34mm 1815 models) powered by a new automatic movement in white and pink gold cases.

Developed by Patek Philippe in 1996, an annual calendar recognises months of 30 and 31 days but treats February as a 30-day month, requiring just one manual correction per year, making it simpler than a perpetual calendar but nonetheless highly practical. Reinterpreted in Lange’s pragmatic Saxon design language, the 38.5mm Saxonia Annual Calendar featured the brand’s signature outsize date at noon with three sub-dials in the lower part of the dial – days of the week, months, small seconds and moon phases.

The delightfully compact 36mm Saxonia Annual Calendar, with a slim 9.8mm profile, retains the layout and impeccable legibility of its larger sibling but looks even more refined thanks to subtle dial upgrades. Naturally, the brand’s hallmark outsize date with two digits is featured prominently in the upper half of the dial and framed in gold to match the case material. The auxiliary day and month sub-dials, decorated with a finer snailed pattern on their borders and a wider one in the centre, have replaced the dagger-shaped hands of earlier editions with longer, more elegant lancet-shaped hands. Slightly bevelled inward, the snailed decoration of all three sub-dials creates a reflecting surface that intensifies the 3D effect of the dial. The minutes track has also been restyled and simplified, allowing for longer, more elegant baton indices that now feature a pyramid-shaped end. All the hands, including the tapered baton-style hour and minute hands, are crafted in gold to match the case.

The moon phase display in the running seconds counter at 6 o’clock needs only one correction every 122.6 years and features a blue-coated gold lunar disc with 428 stars to evoke the Milky Way. As a child of A. Lange & Söhne’s pragmatic, user-friendly approach to watchmaking, all the calendar indications and the moon phase display can be advanced collectively with the rapid-correction pusher on the case at 10 o’clock, or adjusted with individual correctors.

The new automatic calibre L207.1 powering the Saxonia Annual Calendar is equipped with a platinum central rotor and a classic screw balance that operates at 21,600vph. When fully wound, the mainspring barrel delivers a robust 60-hour power reserve. Signature Lange decorative techniques, such as the hand-engraved balance cock and screwed gold chatons, form a historic link to its Saxon watchmaking origins.

Available in pink gold with an elegant grey dial and white gold with an argenté dial, the watches are paired with hand-stitched alligator straps and a Lange prong buckle in pink or white gold. Prices, as always with Lange, are upon request. More information at alange-soehne.com.