The Glashutte firm’s honorary chairman and great-grandson of founder Ferdinand A Lange died in January 2017. Now, 27 years to the day after A. Lange & Sohne was revived following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Glashutte firm has released a series of watches in his honour. 
By Chris Hall

Walter Lange was a huge figure in modern watchmaking, and absolutely instrumental to the reformation and the success of A. Lange & Sohne since 1990. When the news emerged during SIHH 2017 that he had passed away, it left a sombre mood among the many who had met him, and fans of the watches – like the Lange 1 and the Datograph – that without him would not have existed. 
As you would expect, the company is now paying tribute to his life’s work with a run of special edition watches, and as you would expect from A. Lange & Sohne, they do so in the most discreet and mannered way possible. No bells and whistles here: instead something horologically pure and effortlessly tasteful.
What we have here is a new take on the 1815, with a central jumping seconds hand (also known as dead seconds, deadbeat seconds, true beat seconds). This one, unlike many, is stoppable at any point via the pusher at 2 o’clock (and can in effect act as a rudimentary chronograph, therefore). It’s also unusual in that the watch retains the 1815’s standard sweep seconds at the 6 o’clock subdial – so the watch will provide a...