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The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds isn’t about showing off, it’s about showing how precise watchmaking can get. Every jump of the seconds hand tells a story of engineering perfection and timeless design. It’s the kind of watch that reminds you why A. Lange & Söhne is one of the brands that sits at the top of the horological world.

From the moment you strap on the A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, you can immediately tell that this is no ordinary dress watch, but rather a refined instrument of time. Straight away you can see the level of precision, and the idea that every element of this timepiece as a role and purpose. In the world of horology, where high complications often scream for attention and showcase the next level of craftsmanship, the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds whispers, but with confidence.

And that’s what the Richard Lange collection has been all about. Introduced in 2006, this collection was a tribute to the founder’s (Ferdinand Adolph Lange) son Richard Lange, who alongside the other son Emil Lange, was instrumental in the expansion of A. Lange & Söhne and it’s global reputation of highly precise timepieces and exceptional craftsmanship. Richard Lange was both a watchmaker and a scientiest, known for his pioneering work in improving balance spring alloys.

Every timepiece in the Richard Lange collection follows that same philosophy, they are not just watches with luxury presence, but instruments of exact timekeeping. The Richard Lange collection was designed to embody the Saxon’s spirit: being simplistic in aesthetic, functional and technically advanced timepieces. They serve as the modern interpretation of the precision pocket watches once used by observatories and scientists, reimagined for the wrist with the kind of meticulous finishing and craftsmanship that define Lange today.

The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds model was first introduced in 2016, taking the Richard Lange collection’s core DNA and imbuing it into the Jumping Seconds to present an elegant instrument of precision. Unlike the other models in the Richard Lange colleciton, however, the dial featured a unique regulator-style design.This wasn’t a design that was created simply for the sake of offering something new. With the vintage inspired aesthetic of the Richard Lange collection, A. Lange & Söhne looked to scientific-observation watches of old, particularly a late-18th-century regulator pocket watch by Johann Heinrich Seyffert, whose “triangle” dial layout is mirrored in this piece.

Initial Impressions of Richard Lange Jumping Seconds

A. Lange & Söhne are renowned for their exquisite watchmaking. Most of the timepieces, if not all, in A. Lange & Söhne’s collection feature elegant case designs with stunning mirror polishing that exude an unmistakable sense of luxury. When I first held the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, you can immediately tell the level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into a timepiece like this, even though, on the surface, the dial appears to have a relatively simplistic design.

Case Design Richard Lange Jumping Seconds

As mentioned earlier, A. Lange & Söhne’s Richard Lange collection takes inspiration from an earlier era. While the dial serves as a precision instrument that has now been conceived with a modern touch, the case design remains true to its vintage style and appeal. Personally, I love vintage-inspired case designs like this, as they perfectly balance the proportions of the wristwatch while allowing the various finishes to make the watch aesthetically appealing.

When you look through A. Lange & Söhne’s various collections, you’ll notice that the case design embodies a consistent style, featuring a beautifully mirror-polished bezel, straight lugs, and a simplistic crown positioned at 3 o’clock. The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds carries forward these earlier Richard Lange design cues, showcasing the classic round case, soldered lugs, and a more restrained overall appearance.

While this may seem like a relatively simple design, it’s the attention to detail in the finer elements that makes the case stand out beautifully on the wrist. The case measures 39.9 millimetres in diameter and 10.6 millimetres in thickness, giving it the perfect proportions to serve as an elegant dress watch. The designers at A. Lange & Söhne ensured that the case height and diameter were carefully balanced so the movement fits perfectly within, while maintaining proportions that feel both timeless and contemporary by modern standards.

The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds is offered in 750 white gold, which I personally think complements the 18-carat pink dial beautifully, allowing it to stand out without drawing too much attention away from the overall design. In contrast, the black dial variant offers a more formal, dressy appearance. Personally, I prefer the combination of white gold and the sand-toned dial, as it gives the watch an element of luxury while adding just the right touch of warmth and character.

The case features a sandwich-style construction, meaning it is assembled in three layers: the first being the caseback, the second being the middle section with the soldered faceted lugs and crown, and the third being the mirror-polished bezel. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is evident through the various finishing techniques used throughout. The middle portion of the case features a fine horizontal brushed finish, which allows the mirror-polished bezel to stand out more effectively. The caseback and the underside of the lugs are also finished with a high polish. This vintage-inspired design not only indicates quality but also helps reduce glare and improve readability, a subtle yet meaningful design choice that reinforces the watch’s identity as a precision instrument.

Dial Design Richard Lange Jumping Seconds

The beauty of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds dial is that it appears more complex than it actually is. While it may look like there’s quite a lot happening on the dial, it only displays the time and the power reserve. This is because the dial of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds adopts what is known as a regulator-style design, where the time indications are arranged in a distinctive triangular layout.

For those who may be unfamiliar with this design, a regulator-style dial features different sub-dials to showcase the time. For the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, there is a large sub-dial positioned closer to 12 o’clock, which displays the jumping seconds. The circular display on the right, which slightly overlaps the previous seconds dial, showcases the minutes, with 15-minute increments highlighted in red. Lastly, on the left side, overlapping the other two dials, is the hour display with Arabic numerals. While this is certainly a unique way of presenting time-only functionality, the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds pays tribute to historical design, in particular, Chronometer No. 93, crafted by Johann Heinrich Seyffert, from which this timepiece draws its inspiration. As A. Lange & Söhne states, Johann Heinrich Seyffert was “a gifted watchmaker who, in the late 18th century, established the fundamentals of precision timekeeping in Germany.”

One of the standout features of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds is the deadbeat, or “jumping,” motion of the seconds hand. As we know, in most automatic movements, the smoother the glide of the seconds hand, the more accurate and refined the movement tends to be. This is because automatic movements have a high frequency rate, whereby the ticks are so fast, it appears to be moving smoothly. A ticking motion, on the other hand, is typically associated with quartz-driven movements. For an automatic watch to achieve this precise ticking or “jumping seconds” effect, a special mechanism within the movement is required.

This mechanism is a specialty of A. Lange & Söhne, with the first concept of a pocket watch featuring a seconde morte (French for “jumping seconds”) attributed to Ferdinand Adolph Lange, dating back to 1867. The advantage of the jumping seconds mechanism is that the seconds wheel train could be positioned above the main wheel train, allowing the watchmaker to remove or service the seconds mechanism without disassembling the entire movement. If you’d like to learn more about how A. Lange & Söhne’s jumping seconds mechanism works, click here!

Fitted perfectly within the overlap of the three time dials is a triangular cut-out that serves as the display for the manually wound movement’s power reserve. This small triangular indicator gradually transitions to red approximately ten hours before the power reserve is fully depleted. Against the 18-carat pink gold dial, this red indication stands out beautifully, not only adding a touch of character to the design but also alerting the wearer that the movement needs to be wound.

I’m a fan of coloured dials in modern watchmaking, as they move away from the traditional black, white and deep blue tones we’ve become so accustomed to. Not only that, but they also bring the dial to life and allow the timepiece to attract the attention it truly deserves. While the black dial variant of the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds offers a deeper contrast with the white time registers, the 18-carat pink gold dial draws the viewer in to appreciate the craftsmanship that A. Lange & Söhne are so well known for.

Movement

The driving force behind the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds is the manually wound L094.1 movement. This movement features three groundbreaking mechanisms developed by A. Lange & Söhne, each perfectly complementing the other. Firstly, we have the constant-force escapement, followed by the aforementioned jumping seconds mechanism, and finally, the zero-reset mechanism.

The constant-force escapement is a very important development in watchmaking, as it ensures the watch is powered with a consistent level of energy throughout the entire power reserve. What this means is that, with a movement frequency of 3Hz, the constant-force escapement maintains that same 3 hertz frequency for the full duration of the 42-hour power reserve. Even as the mainspring’s torque begins to decline, the frequency remains stable, ensuring the watch’s accuracy is preserved. As A. Lange & Söhne states, “To supply the required energy, an impulse is generated every second. This impulse is also used for the jump of the seconds, exactly 60 times per minute.”

For those who may not know, the zero-reset mechanism is used specifically when the crown is pulled out and time stops. This mechanism is equipped with a multi-disc clutch, which means that when the crown is pulled, the seconds hand instantly jumps to the zero position. In traditional timepieces, when you pull the crown out, the seconds hand simply stops wherever it is, the disadvantage being that you can’t precisely synchronise the watch to an external time signal. Lange’s zero-reset function eliminates this issue entirely, allowing the wearer to set the time down to the exact second, perfectly aligning with the brand’s pursuit of absolute precision.

What sets A. Lange & Söhne apart from other timepieces is its exceptional movement finishing. Not only is it more colourful, to put it simply, but a great level of care is taken to ensure the movement is finished as beautifully as possible. When you turn the watch over, it truly is a sight to behold. In the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, the movement features blued screws, jewels set in gold chatons, and a gold balance wheel and gears, providing plenty of visual contrast and richness.

The movement includes a host of hand finishes, with the standout ones being the hand-engraved balance cock with deeply defined relief and crisp decoration, plates and bridges in untreated German silver (rather than standard brass) a hallmark of Lange’s manufacture movements, Glashütte ribbing (striped finish) on the three-quarter plate and bridges, and circular graining (perlage) on hidden surfaces and recesses to demonstrate finishing even where it isn’t immediately visible. As I’ve mentioned, these are only a few of the many finishing techniques used, highlighting just how meticulous and artistic A. Lange & Söhne’s craftsmanship truly is.

How Does It Wear?

When you first wear the A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds, the first thing that immediatley stood out for me was how balanced the timepiece felt. Despite the complex movement sitting inside, the watch has refined proportions with a wearable profile of 39.9mm x 10.6mm thickness and a lug-to-lug distance of just 46mm. This lug-to-lug distance is crucial in providing a perfect fit around the wrist, as with a short lug distance, on 16cm wrist size like mine it tapers to the contours of the wrist nicely. It’s a great blend of traditional dress watch design and technical precision instrument, being substaintial enough to remind you of the timepiece’s craftsmanship, while remaining slim enough to slide under the cuff easily.

The use of precious metals gives the timepiece a reassuring weight, but not too heavy or top-loaded. If you’re like me and like feeling the weight of timepeice on the wrist, this strikes the right balance, substantial enough to remind you it’s there, yet comfortable enough for extended wear throughout the day.

The finishing of the case is also what gives the timepiece some of it’s aesthetic appeal. The mirror-polished bezel and brushed mid-case creates a play of contrast that shines beautifully at different lighting angles, reinforcing the timepiece’s vintage-inspired elegant aesthetic. The 18-carat pink gold dial complements the white gold case that allows both materials to stand out nicely. If this was paired on a gold case, I would say that the watch would’t be as aesthetically pleasing as the dial and case tones would be too similar.

Overall, the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds wears exactly as you’d expect from a Lange, impeccably. The glistening shine of the polished finishes of the case to the pink gold dial, all the elements come together to delivers that distinct sense of balance between craftsmanship, comfort, and understated presence. It’s one of those watches that, once on your wrist, feels less like an accessory and more like a precision instrument built to accompany you for a lifetime.

Final Thoughts

The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds is a timepiece that perfectly encapsulates what makes A. Lange & Söhne so revered in the world of horology. It’s not a timepiece that needs several complications to stand out, but rather, does so through it’s exceptional craftsmanship, vintage-inspired design and the regulator style time display. This is a timepiece that showcases how mastery in precision, finishing, and design can create something truly extraordinary. This is a timepiece for those that appreciate the finer details.

Wearing the Richard Lange Jumping Seconds feels like wearing a bridge between two worlds: the scientific precision instruments of the past, and the refined elegance of contemporary watchmaking. You can feel the weight of the mechanical innovation sitting inside, while been treated to the beauty of the vintage case design and the beautiful pink gold dial. From the satisfaction of seeing the “jump” of the seconds hand, to the beautifully balanced dial with the three timekeeping sub-dials, along with the incredible finishing of the movement visible through the caseback, every glance at this timepiece reminds you of how special it is and the attention to detail given by A. Lange & Söhne.

Speaking of attention to detail, one thing didn’t mention earlier was the double assembly of the movement. A signature techinique carried out during the A. Lange & Söhne movement manufacture process, this double assembly is a two-stage process whereby the watchmakers would fully assemble the movement, then disassemble it, and reassemble it again. The reason this is done is so that it ensures the highest quality and precise movement when it leaves the manufacture, a testament to A. Lange & Söhne’s exceptional level of detail and commitment to doing things the right way, no matter how much extra time it takes.

At the end of the day, this isn’t just a watch that tells time, it’s one that tells a story. The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds doesn’t try to be loud or over the top; it quietly impresses you with its attention to detail and precision. It’s the kind of watch that makes you appreciate why we love mechanical timepieces so much in the first place, from the passion, the craftsmanship, and the feeling that what’s on your wrist is truly something remarkable!

Specification: A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds (Ref.  252.056)

• Dimensions: 39.9mm x 10.6mm thick x 46mm lug-to-lug distance
• Case Material: 18-carat white gold with polished bezel and satin-brushed case middle.
• Dial: 18-carat pink gold dial with regulator style dial layout. Power reserve indicator above 6 o’clock.
• Water Resistance: 30m (3 Bar)
• Movement: Manual Winding Calibre L094.1
• Movement Power reserve: 42 hours operating at 3Hz (21,600 VpH)
• Crystal: Sapphire with anti-reflective coating
• Bracelet/Strap: Dark brown, Alligator leather (sustainably sourced) with 18-carat white gold prong buckle.

Australian Recommended Retail Price: Price on Request.

Availability: Limited to 100 models. Available through A. Lange & Söhne boutiques and authorised retailers, or head online to Alange-soehne.com.au