SIHH 2015: A. Lange & Sohne Datograph Up/Down now in Pink Gold (specs and price)

If you ask collectors which is the best ever chronograph, you’ll probably get 2 or 3 recurring answers: Rolex Daytona, Omega Speedmaster and A. Lange & Sohne Datograph. For sure, the two first watches are iconic and highly interesting. However, when it comes to Haute Horlogerie matters and technically advanced movements, the one and only answer remaining is the Datograph. Already available in platinum, the A. Lange and Sohne Datograph Up/Down comes now in a new pink gold edition.

We said new… in fact, not completely. If watches are a subject you’re following for some years now, you might be familiar with this watch. In 2003 Lange and Sohne launched a Datograph in pink gold with a black dial. Of course it did not have the technical characteristics of the actual reference, the Datograph Up/Down. Born in 1999, the Datograph was updated in 2012 with many improvements. Visually first, the Roman numerals have made place for baton hour markers and the case has been enlarged from 39mm to 41mm. Technically, the ‘new‘ Datograph offers 60 hours of autonomy when fully wound (that’s 24 hours more than on the previous generation), a power reserve indicator at 6 (that explains its name: Up/Down) and a proprietary balance system. However, from 2012, we were used to see the Dato in platinum only. It is now available in a warmer, less sportier 18k pink gold case.

Technically, nothing has been changed, compared to the platinum edition. And it’s good news, considering the marvelous movement that ticks inside the Datograph. When we fully reviewed the Datograph we showed you in details this amazingly advanced and beautifully finished movement.

The Calibre L951.6 comprises 451 parts in total. All bridges and the main plate are crafted from untreated German silver, which over time, gets a bit of patina that adds a warm yellowish. The entire movement is lavishly finished by hand. Bridges are angled and the angles are polished, the flat surfaces are adorned with Glashütte striping and jewels are set in gold chatons that are fixed by three heat blued screws. The steel parts – rockers, levers, cams and the column-wheel – are also finished by hand, and feature a straight-graining on the flat surfaces and angled and polished edges. The balance cock has engraved by hand and is one of the signature features of every A. Lange & Söhne.

Calibre L951.6 offers a power reserve of 60 hours, from one single main spring barrel and it offers an outsized date (located at 12) and a fly-back chronograph.

No changes either on the dial, except the baton markers and the hands made of matching 18k pink gold. The dial keeps its ‘reverse panda‘ layout (black dial with silvery white sub-counters) and the same attributes: tachymeter ring, Ab/Auf power reserve at 6 and slightly off-centered small second on the left and 30-minute counter on the right (with instantaneously jumping hand).

The A. Lange & Sohne Datograph in pink gold is a surprising but pleasant reissue of an iconic watch, known to be one of the best chronographs ever (if not the best). For the story, Mister Philippe Dufour himself owns one (a 2003 edition in this same pink gold / black dial combination). Price has not being revealed yet. However, as the platinum edition is priced at 74.400 Euros, expect around 62.000 euros for this Datograph in pink gold.

More details on the official website of A. Lange and Sohne.

Specifications:

• Movement: Lange manufacture calibre L951.6; manually wound, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; plates and bridges made of untreated German silver; balance cock engraved by hand. 451 parts, 46 Jewels, 4 screwed gold chatons. Lever escapement. Shock-resistant balance wheel with eccentric poising weights; balance spring manufactured in-house with a frequency of 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour, precision beat adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring
• Power reserve: 60 hours when fully wound
• Functions: Time indicated in hours, minutes and subsidiary seconds with stop seconds; flyback chronograph with precisely jumping minute counter; power-reserve indicator; outsize date
• Operating Elements: Crown for winding the watch and setting the time, two pushers for operating the chronograph, one rapid- correction pusher for the outsize date
• Case: 18k pink gold. Diameter: 41.0 millimetres; height: 13.1 millimetres
• Dial: Solid silver, black; subsidiary dials argenté
• Hands: Pink-gold hour and minute hands, luminous; chronograph hand in gold-plated steel; seconds and minute-counter hands in blued steel
• Strap: Hand-stitched alligator leather strap, red brown