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A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon V2 OXF - The german symphony (Pictureheavy review)

jm_brc_7057

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Review of the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon V2 OXF

- The german symphony



I hope gentlemen you enjoy this review as much as i enjoyed writing it for you all. I hope you like it.

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What is it that we love so much about watches? Is it the technical details? Is it all the innovation, craftsmanship, the marketing/branding we associate with it?
I would like to think it is about how they make us feel. Certain watches are made to be mesmerizing.
They make you feel more in connection with the gentleman within you.
And gentlemen, this is the kind of watch we have at hand here. It's a masterpiece made in Germany, i would go as far as to say it's the German symphony.

What do we love about Germany? Who said Autobahn or German cars? Well there are a lot of good things about Germany and any simplification would be unjust. But what first pops to mind is their innovative engineering, their craftsmanship and the order in everything.

It would therefore not surprise anyone that they also can make good watches. When did it start?















History of A. Lange & Söhne
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There was a time when German watchmaking was a force to be reckoned. And they are coming back to that again. All the marketing power, money and lobbyism in Swiss watchmaking can’t hide the fact, that german watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne is on par with, or maybe even better than the brands in the holy trinity in Swiss watchmaking.
The eye for detail is astonishing, the level of finishing is done with such perfection, that one can’t ignore to acknowledge the Germans for their craftmanship. The centuries old tradition shines through, as A. Lange & Söhne was established in 1845 in Glashütte, Germany. In many years they took on the Swiss. During the WWII they produced precision timepieces for the military and Luftwaffe.

In 1948 after WWII they were nationalized and in a sense seized to exist.

It was in 1989 after the fall of the Iron Curtain, that Walter Lange (grandson of Adolph Lange) revived the brand as it is known today.

Current no. of production is estimated to around 5000 watches a year.






A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon
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The tourbillon even if it isn’t an important complication regarding the precision in wristwatches, it has a lot of historical importance. A. Lange & Söhne first produced a tourbillon in 2008, and invented it with a stop-mechanism (stopped the tourbillon as long as the crown was pulled).

In 2014 they introduced the 1815 Tourbillon with a patented zero-reset mechanism, not seen before in a tourbillon. It stops the rotation of the tourbillon and resets it to zero, when the crown is pulled.




























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The gen has a characteristic design for the 1815 line, with a railway style minute track and big arabic numerals. It has a blued steel minute and hour hand and seconds hand on the tourbillon cage at 6. It’s a simple design, with its german heritage shining through.






















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The movement has the characteristic Lange three-quarter plate in untreated german silver and a very well-finished movement and balance cock:























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In mid 2018 a enamel dial version with red 12 marker was released:















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Gen movement
A. Lange & Söhne caliber L102.1, operating at 21600bph (3hz), with a PR of 72 hours.

Gen facts
Diameter: 39,5mm
Thickness: 11,1mm
Tourbillon cage width: 13,2mm

Gen prices
RG: 164100 usd
Platinum: 201300 usd (limited to 100)












The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 (V2) OXF
As I have owned the previous version and was very fond of that, in the approx. 6 months I had it, I will compare it to that frequently in the following.
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There was a lot of discussion on RWI regarding the thickness of this rep, as it was measured to be 13,9mm in one of the pre-release videos on youku. And this I will address later on.

Facts first
Rep case diameter: 41mm (previous version was 42mm)
Rep case thickness: Is a little above 13mm, and without the crystal approx. 12mm
Lug width: 22mm (confirmed)
Buckle width: 18mm (confirmed)
Strap: Black piece of garbage, as expected.




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Case
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The watch is heavy and the case is very well executed (90 grams as shown below).
The finishing is superb. The bezel and front of the lugs are mirror polished, as well as the case-back, while the mid-case and side of the lugs are brushed.
In the previous version the sides were polished. Which therefore is an improvement. As you can see the sides of the lugs are not brushed in gen, but over all it’s an significant improvement. As it gives a more refined look like the gen.
Crown is well-executed, although it’s a bit thicker than the gen.

































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Buckle

Although the gen comes with a deployant clasp, which was preferable. But we only get a pin buckle here. There is though, an improvement here from the previous version. The buckle is elegantly mirror polished and feels like it is of much higher quality than the previous versions badly brushed one.









































Tourbillon
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The tourbillon is placed at 6 and is bridged. It has a second’s hand on it and a rail-way type seconds track. Over all there are vast improvements in design. For example, the sabre is much better looking and even though there are still differences (fx the cock that zero-resets isn’t there in the rep), I would say it’s beautifully executed and looks more gen-like.
They managed to integrate a seconds hand, even though it doesn’t go all the way out to the periphery.


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Dial

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The dial is one thing that was very special about the previous version. Because it had that textured shimmery look and applied 3D numerals. And I am very relieved to experience that the V2 has the same. It’s a stunning dial. It looks better than the previous version, which had a too big dial. Now the balance between the tourbillon cage and the dial looks better and more gen-like to me:
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Compared to the gen and the old version, the dial is a bit more sunken. And I reckon that to be caused by the addition of the second’s hand on the tourbillon, as they have mounted it on a pinion on top of the tourbillon. They therefore had to elevate the seconds and minutes hands slightly and to make room for that the bezel has been made deeper to make room for the crystal also.
























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Hands
The minute and hour hand are sword-shaped like the gen and in the blued color. Another improvement here is that the minutes hand goes all the way to the peripheral minutes track. This wasn’t the case with the previous version. I reckon it to be because it’s 1 mm less in diameter.



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Crystal

Is crystal clear and with AR-coating. Doesn’t reflect anything much as seen in these two images. For the sake of the review i've put it on a black alligator strap, which is 21mm though, why the spring bars are showing (left image).

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On the wrist (and thickness)

The thickness in my humble opinion is very good and the watch doesn’t feel too thick. Neither does it do that on the wrist. For me it feels as it has the same thickness as the previous version. Also, the old version had a big dial and felt very different than the gen in the looks of it. The V2 has a more “compact” look to it like the gen, because of the slightly smaller diameter and thickness of it. Also, it has the more genlike feel because of the brushed sides, the tourbillon cage design and the seconds hand on it.

Here compared to the gen on wrist:

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Some more pictures of the rep on wrist:


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Size compared with the Breguet 7057 Tradition, which is considered a thin watch:
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Most of the thickness is below the lugs (in the wrist), which makes the watch look thinner when it's worn:
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Case size comparison with the 40mm Breguet Tradition 7057:
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Movement:

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The decoration is fine. Off course it’s anything near what an A. Lange & Söhne movement feels like. I have once had the privilege to take a close look at an F.P. Journe Chronometre Souverain and a simple RG A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia thin (minute and hour hand only) pieces. When lying beside each other and in the hand the Saxonia felt like it had much better craftmanship, even the Journe movement being in gold. It was just better executed. So a rep can’t off course compete with this level of craftmanship, but at least on pictures they look more or less like it.

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Major flaws
  • Case diameter is 1,5mm more than gen
  • Case thickness is about 2 mm bigger than gen (and hence dial is sunken)
Minor flaws
  • Brushed sides of the lugs
  • Short second’s hand
  • Slightly different tourbillon cage (acceptable, not so visible on wrist)
Compared to the previous version
Same beautiful shimmery textured dial and three dimensional looking applied Arabic numerals. Better tourbillon cage design with a second’s hand and more gen-like sabre. Better looking tourbillon cage-dial ratio. More compact gen-like look of the watch.
Slightly thicker than the previous version.

Version 1:
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Version 2:
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Conclusion

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For those of us who love A. Lange & Söhne, there are more compromises, than options. And we just have to accept this fact. As Lange is neither a big nor commonly popular brand. Rarely do we get "which is the best sub"-like questions in the A.L.&S. section. And we won't see a V9 Noob any time soon. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there was even released a second version of this watch. So how do I see this timepiece?

I would say, if there was a timepiece I was to wear while listening to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concert in E minor, Op. 64 live, this would be it.

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Because some watches make you feel more in connection with your sophisticated inner self. It appeals to the gentleman inside. It’s magic make the same appeal as when listening to a beautiful piece of symphony. This timepiece is so refined, simple, yet elegant and does it in such an understated way, that only Lange could pull that off. It is also a high-quality piece that looks expensive, even though it is so understated. The tourbillon is mesmerizing and the second’s hand is a very nice feature. The finishing and build quality is high and I don’t miss the old version. This kept the best of it and improved the things that bothered me the most. If you are willing to make the necessary compromises – in particular the gen being thinner – you are in for a treat!



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Thanks a lot for reading the review!
 
Last edited:

Glaude

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Excellent review as always ! Thank you for the write up, appreciated the reading :)

I don't understand why they didn't make the second hand a bit longer, it would have changed absolutely nothing in terms of assembly, they just needed to update the part like they did on the minute hand !
 
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jm_brc_7057

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Great review buddy,
I might have to get one if they do a V3 with longer second hand. However it looks great.
Enjoy it.
Neil

Thanks mate. You never know. Maybe there will be a V3 :)
They would have to work on the case size and thickness if they did release a 3rd version. In my opinion that's a bigger flaw.
 

jm_brc_7057

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Excellent review as always ! Thank you for the write up, appreciated the reading :)

I don't understand why they didn't make the second hand a bit longer, it would have changed absolutely nothing in terms of assembly, they just needed to update the part like they did on the minute hand !

Thanks mate :)

Can it have something to do with the constraints on the length of hand the movement can carry? I think the tourbillon cage is quite big. If they had made the watch 40mm it would probably have fitted.
 
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m1994

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Wow these are the types of reviews that you enjoy every word written, thank you very much for giving us so much detailed information and such good way to use the words to describe this work of art, I liked the review too much and the watch is incredible, much better thank the previous one!
 
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BIONONE

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Gorgeous!

The improved cage is proof that there is hope to see even more detailed pieces in the future.

Maybe one day we will see a comparable finish on those rather „simple“ 3/4 back plates. (Don‘t get me wrong on the „simple“ lol)

Thank you for the review and these awesome pictures!
 
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jm_brc_7057

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Wow these are the types of reviews that you enjoy every word written, thank you very much for giving us so much detailed information and such good way to use the words to describe this work of art, I liked the review too much and the watch is incredible, much better thank the previous one!

Thanks mate, it's kind of you :)
 

jm_brc_7057

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Gorgeous!

The improved cage is proof that there is hope to see even more detailed pieces in the future.

Maybe one day we will see a comparable finish on those rather „simple“ 3/4 back plates. (Don‘t get me wrong on the „simple“ lol)

Thank you for the review and these awesome pictures!

Appreciate it mate. Yeah the tourbillon cage is really beautiful. One little detail is that they also changed the three screws from blue to silver.

We can hope they make the Lange 3/4 plate very good one day :)
 
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xpresso

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Wowwwwww! IT IS SUPER AMAZING, just see if we can have someone to have a custom second hand and cut the thickness a bit...I will pull the trigger anyway, just need to wait handwerkskunst released.


從我的iPhone使用RWI 發送
 
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jm_brc_7057

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Wowwwwww! IT IS SUPER AMAZING, just see if we can have someone to have a custom second hand and cut the thickness a bit...I will pull the trigger anyway, just need to wait handwerkskunst released.


從我的iPhone使用RWI 發送

Good to hear mate. Nice to hear more about that project. Could be interesting for me also to get it thinner. Dont know how to get it done though.

I am not so sure they will release the Handwerkskunst though.
 

Dr Fun Socks

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Good to hear mate. Nice to hear more about that project. Could be interesting for me also to get it thinner. Dont know how to get it done though.

I am not so sure they will release the Handwerkskunst though.

Great review mate, very thorough and enjoyable to read :) in terms of thinning tourbillons, its just not worth it. The deco plate (at least on a royal oak) is maybe 1mm, so even if you were willing to lose that, the most you can gain is 1mm. Enjoy it as it is, and it is a beauty!
 
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jm_brc_7057

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Great review mate, very thorough and enjoyable to read :) in terms of thinning tourbillons, its just not worth it. The deco plate (at least on a royal oak) is maybe 1mm, so even if you were willing to lose that, the most you can gain is 1mm. Enjoy it as it is, and it is a beauty!

Thanks doc for your valuable insight. Appreciated. I'm glad you enjoyed the review.
 

rek00001

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Thanks much for a fantastic read, enjoyed it much. You now have me thinking about my first tourbillon.