The 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst blends A. Lange & Söhne’s pocket-watch heritage with modern Saxon ingenuity, pairing timeless proportions and a black grand-feu enamel dial with a platinum case. Its tourbillon elevates tradition further, making this 50-piece limited edition a rare union of classical beauty and cutting-edge precision.
The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst is a beautiful example of the Saxon manufacture showcasing its ability to merge classical design with cutting-edge horological innovation. First unveiled in 2014, the timepiece draws its aesthetic from the brand’s historic pocket watches, evident through the case and dial design. Yet, underneath the traditional dial design lies one of A. Lange & Söhne’s most technically sophisticated movements. The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst was the first timepiece to combine a stop-seconds mechanism for the tourbillon with a zero-reset function, allowing the wearer to set the time with one-second accuracy: a true rarity for tourbillons.
By bringing together practical innovations into a classic complication, the 1815 Tourbillon acts as a bridge that connects A. Lange & Söhne’s 19th-century heritage with 21st-century watchmaking. This, personally, is a timepiece that catches my eye immediately, as it’s a beautiful display of understated elegance, hand-finishing, precision, and an intricate showcase of the complexity mixed with simplicity.
Now, a particular brand of elegance typifies the latest version of the 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst. Limited to just 50 timepieces, it is presented in 950 platinum with a jet-black grand-feu enamel dial, a combination that not only exudes luxury and elegance but also allows the tourbillon complication to stand out truly.
Now, a particular brand of elegance typifies the latest version of the 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst. Limited to just 50 timepieces, it is presented in 950 platinum with a jet-black grand-feu enamel dial, a combination that not only exudes luxury and elegance but also allows the tourbillon complication to stand out truly.
As with all A. Lange & Söhne timepieces, the latest 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst also represents the pinnacle of Lange’s decorative arts. Each movement has been painstakingly hand-engraved with intricate tremblage and relief motifs unique to this series, making every piece a miniature work of art on the wrist. Combine this with the already sophisticated movement and the limited run of just 50 models, the new timepiece is not just another 1815 Tourbillon, but a rare fusion of mechanical ingenuity and aesthetic mastery, where the complexity of the timepiece is highlighted through the colours of the dial.
Case Design
Presented in a 39.5mm x 11.3mm 950 platinum case, it represents the restrained elegance and timeless proportions that define A. Lange & Söhne’s design language. The sandwich-case construction with the subtly curved lugs is a design nod to the brand’s 19th-century pocket watches, translating classical Saxon aesthetics into a contemporary wristwatch form. The polished bezel and lugs, the finely horizontal brushed caseband, and finely executed fluting between the lugs allow the watch to play with light beautifully, giving the timepiece an elevated luxury aesthetic. The 950-platinum case also really pops against the jet-black grand feu enamel dial, giving this version a bolder look than the existing white-enamel 1815 Tourbillon.
Dial Design
Capturing the essence of 19th-century pocket watches, the 1815 collection has a signature design in which the focus is on the precise legibility of the hours, minutes, and seconds. The elegantly styled Arabic indices are complemented by the sharp lance-shaped (Poire-shaped) hands, which sweep crisply across the railway-track minute scale to offer a clear, classical reading of the time. Against the deep black grand-feu enamel dial, these details not only provide crisp legibility but also lend the watch a refined, understated sense of luxury that elevates its traditional aesthetic.
The grand-feu black enamel dial is crafted fully in-house, from the very first to the last step. As A. Lange & Söhne states, “This includes preparing the basic dial in white gold, crushing and applying the enamel pigments, multiple firing procedures, and the final surface treatment. Additionally, the circular aperture for the tourbillon is chamfered by hand, a task that requires extreme dexterity to prevent damage to the enamel layer. Crafting a single enamel dial comprises more than one hundred individual procedures: unsurprisingly, it takes several weeks to complete each of these works of art”.
The central highlight of this timepiece is, of course, the tourbillon complication situated at the 6 o’clock position. As mentioned earlier, however, this isn’t just any tourbillon mechanism. In their pursuit of continued evolution, the Lange engineers equipped the traditional mechanism with two additional functions: a stop-seconds device that makes it possible to stop the tourbillon at will by simply pulling the crown, and the ZERO-RESET mechanism, which allows the seconds hand (connected to the tourbillon) to jump to the zero position (12 o’clock), which means the minute hand can be precisely aligned with a minute marker.
A. Lange & Söhne’s exceptional finishing is displayed on the tourbillon cage, which includes the tourbillon bridge and upper section of the case embellished with black polish. This is a technique that, as stated by A. Lange & Söhne, involves “uniformly sliding the workpiece with just the right pressure across a tin plate by hand until the surface has a mirror gloss when viewed from a certain angle, while at other angles it has a jet-black sheen”. The internal angles of the tourbillon cage have also been chamfer-polished, a technique that requires a special sharp tool and several days of work for the finisher.
Movement
Inside the latest A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst beats the lavishly finished manufacture calibre L1201.1 movement, proudly on show with the open sapphire-crystal caseback. This is a hand-wound movement with all the hallmarks of Lange’s exceptional craftsmanship that only a few watchmakers can achieve. A diamond endstone that is secured by a screwed gold chaton sits at the heart of the tourbillon complication, a nod to the traditional 1A-quality watches that were once reserved for the brand’s most precious creations.
The movement comes with a specially designed freely oscillating Lange balance spring that is paired with a traditional screw balance, which ultimately delivers a superb rate of stability throughout the 72-hour power reserve. Beating at 3Hz (21,600 VpH), the 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst is as much a precision instrument as it is a work of art.
Initial Thoughts
I have always loved how the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 collection transports you back to an era when traditional watchmaking was front and centre. From the vintage-inspired case design to the simple yet elegant dial that is built for legibility, every detail of the 1815 collection is a reminder that classic aesthetics are very much still alive and well at the highest level of watchmaking.
Add to that a seriously high-complication like the tourbillon, one that A. Lange & Söhne has taken even further with its stop-seconds function and ZERO-RESET mechanism, and what you end up with is a timepiece that is not just technically impressive, but also a highly complex work of art on the wrist. This latest 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst with its grand-feu black enamel dial feels like the perfect blend of old-world charm and modern Saxon ingenuity, and honestly, it’s hard not to be drawn to it.
Specification: A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst (Ref. 730.094F)
- Dimensions: 39.5mm x 11.3mm thick
- Case Material: 950 Platinum with various finishes from satin brushed to polished.
- Dial: 750 White gold, grand-feu black enamel
- Movement: Manual-winding Lange manufacture calibre L102.1
- Movement Power reserve: 72 hours operating at 3Hz (21,600 VpH)
- Crystal: Sapphire crystal (Mohs hardness 9) with anti-reflective coating.
- Bracelet/Strap: Hand-stitched alligator leather, glossy black with deployant buckle in 950 platinum.