The Jaw-Dropping A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen

The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen” is the indisputable highlight of A. Lange & Söhne’s novelties for Watches and Wonders 2024. Pulling out its big guns at Watches & Wonders, Lange has treated its über-complex flyback chronograph, perpetual calendar, and tourbillon cocktail to an exclusive Honeygold case and, for the cherry on top, a luminous Lumen glow. Sharing identical specifications to its siblings in white gold and platinum, this masterpiece of horology and Saxon design that made its debut in 2016 has no qualms about revealing its innermost secrets in the dark.

Although the Datograph is officially celebrating its 25th anniversary, Lange has chosen to pay homage to its complicated sibling, the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, by treating it to two of the brand’s trademarked products: Honeygold and Lumen.

Honeygold is a top-secret alloy developed for Lange in 2010 with a unique colour comparable to that of honey. Harder than platinum and other gold alloys, its subtle, elegant tone is reserved for Lange’s most exclusive timepieces.

Lumen is a luminous compound developed and patented by Lange’s product developers. The challenge behind this compound was to uniformly charge the luminous elements beneath the dial. The solution was a partially tinted sapphire crystal dial permeable to ultraviolet light. This special crystal allows the UV to charge the luminescence, making the treated elements glow in the dark.

Now a collector’s favourite, the Lumen Series was introduced in 2010 with the Zeitwerk Luminous, succeeded by the Grande Lange 1  and the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase. All three models were limited editions and housed in platinum cases. In 2018, the fourth model in the Lumen Series, the Datograph UP/DOWN, broke rank and appeared in a Honeygold case, followed by the Zeitwerk Honeygold. Using the same combination of Honeygold and Lumen, the latest Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon becomes the sixth member of the Lumen club.

Adding a perpetual calendar with instantaneously switching displays and a tourbillon with a patented stop-seconds mechanism to a column-wheel chronograph with a precisely jumping minutes counter without altering the highly legible face of the Datograph is, to say the least, a gargantuan challenge. The perpetual calendar functions are ingeniously integrated into the two sub-dials at 3 and 9, with the moon phases at 6 o’clock. The tourbillon is discreetly positioned on the movement side.

The 41.5 mm case, which has a height of 14.6 mm, maintains the same dimensions as the earlier models but is crafted in 18k Honeygold. Now incorporating a Lumen semi-transparent dial, even more of the 684-part movement is revealed. Grey by day and green by night,  a tachymeter and minutes scale that lights up in the dark thanks to the luminous material. With chronograph readings accurate to one-fifth of a second, the minutes scale features 300 markers, no doubt explaining why the AB/AUF power reserve indicator didn’t make the cut.

The hour and minute hands are inlaid with lume, and the central chronograph seconds hand is coated from tip to toe. In pride of place, the two discs of the outsize date are coated with a luminous compound and printed with black numerals. Both the sub-dials – subsidiary seconds at 9 o’clock with the day of the week and day/night indicator and 30-minute elapsed times at 3 o’clock with month and leap year – are fully lumed. Even the elements inside the moon phase indicator are luminous, as are the tips of the indices at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock.

The view from the caseback is no less spectacular. Powered by the calibre L952.4, the base is the Datograph’s chronograph movement (column wheel and horizontal clutch) with a QP module and a tourbillon regulator. Impressive finishings alla Lange like the untreated German silver bridges, the polished gold chatons and blued screws are visible.

Limited to 50 pieces, the price of the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen is strictly upon request. For more information, please consult alange-soehne.com.