A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual, for people who assemble everything twice

There are watches I admire and watches I respect. A. Lange & Söhne makes the second kind. The new Datograph Perpetual, presented on 24 October, is the reason I keep saying that.

It is a platinum chronograph with a perpetual calendar, limited to 50 pieces. Reference 410.136. 41 mm wide, 13.5 mm thick. A black dial set with eleven baguette diamonds of about 0.13 carats, with no markers at 4 and 8 o'clock, where the calendar displays live. It comes on a five row platinum bracelet.

On paper, that sounds like jewellery. In the hand, I am sure it will feel like engineering.

The movement, because that is the point

Inside is the calibre L952.1. Hand wound. 556 parts, of which 223 belong to the calendar alone.

It is a flyback chronograph with a precisely jumping minute counter and a column wheel. The moon phase is so accurate it will only deviate by one day in 122.6 years. And the calendar knows its leap years so well that the first correction it needs is on 1 March 2100.

A word on the flyback, because it is the reason the Datograph exists. With a normal chronograph you must stop, reset and restart, three pushes. With a flyback, one push on the reset button while the chronograph is running sends the hands back to zero and starts them again instantly. It was made for pilots timing legs of a flight. Today it is made for people who enjoy a perfect mechanical gesture.

Like every Lange movement, it is assembled twice. Once to adjust everything. Then taken apart, cleaned, decorated and assembled again for good. It is slower and more expensive. It is also why Lange owners rarely sell.

Twenty years of Datograph Perpetual

The first Datograph Perpetual appeared in 2006, building on the original Datograph of 1999, the chronograph that made the rest of the industry look again at what a manual movement could be.

This launch also has a family meaning. Lange's press material this autumn pays tribute to Walter Lange, born on 29 July 1924, the great grandson of the founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange. It was Walter who brought the name back to Glashütte in 1990, after the company had been expropriated in 1948. Without him there would be no Datograph at all.

Curious facts

• Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the company in Glashütte in 1845, to give a poor mountain town a trade.
• Lange uses German silver for its three quarter plates. It is untreated and develops a soft patina with time. Nobody tries to stop it.
• In Lisbon, the new boutique has a "Wall of Parts" with more than 400 components of a Zeitwerk. It is the best explanation of complexity I have seen in a shop.

Where to see it in Portugal

Here is the best news of the year for Portuguese collectors. In June 2026, A. Lange & Söhne opened its own boutique at Avenida da Liberdade 215, in Lisbon. It is the brand's eleventh boutique in Europe.

The space has 141 square metres over two floors. The floor is in Calçada Portuguesa, with a pattern that echoes the perlage finish on Lange movements. Downstairs, under old brick arches, there is a small theatre for presentations.

With only 50 pieces worldwide, I would not walk in expecting one in the window. But I would walk in. That is where the conversation starts.

My take

There are two ways to make a complicated watch look expensive. You can add stones, or you can add work. Lange added both here, and I would usually complain about the diamonds.

I will not. The baguettes replace the indexes, the calendar windows stay clean, and the whole dial is dark and quiet. The diamonds are there to be noticed only when the light finds them.

For people who assemble everything twice, in life and in watches, this is the reference. And for the first time, you can discuss it in Portuguese, on the Avenida.