Most watchmakers spoken of with this level of reverence have been in business for decades. But A. Lange & Söhne, despite being one of the most esteemed watchmakers in the world, has more or less only been producing wristwatches since its re-birth in 1994. Rewind to 1845, when Lange was founded by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the town of Glashütte, near Dresden. Lange turned out quality pocket watches through generations of the Lange family until 1948, when the post-war Soviet administration seized the company’s property and the Lange brand was dismantled.
Following the collapse of the East German government in 1990, the founder’s great-grandson teamed up with several Swiss watchmakers, including IWC and Jaeger Le Coultre, to reform the company in Glashütte. A. Lange & Söhne presented its first range of wristwatches in 1994 after more than 50 years of inactivity. Now they manufacture fewer than 5000 watches per year, all of which are brilliantly beautiful and unparalleled feats of horological engineering. We’d say they may even produce the best movements in the game, but they operate at such a high level that sometimes it doesn’t even seem like they’re playing the same game as everyone else.
