A. Lange & Sohne – 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold “Homage to F. A. Lange” Edition

A. Lange & Sohne – 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold “Homage to F. A. Lange” Special Edition 2020

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The newly developed 1815 RATTRAPANTE HONEYGOLD "Homage to F. A. Lange" is one of three models of an exceptional anniversary collection. Limited to 100 watches and exclusively available in A. Lange & Söhne boutiques, the rattrapante chronograph puts the focus on the eponymous complication. It features a case in honey gold, a black dial, and special movement finissage.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

With the incorporation of his first pocket watch workshop on 7 December 1845, Ferdinand Adolph Lange launched a unique success story. For more than four generations, the watchmakers of the Lange family defined Saxon precision watchmaking – from modest beginnings and the first high points in the 19th century to the revival by Walter Lange, Ferdinand Adolph Lange's great-grandson, after Germany was reunified.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

To celebrate the 175th anniversary, A. Lange & Söhne has introduced a special set of three limited-edition models of the 1815 watch family in honey-gold cases – the 1815 RATTRAPANTE HONEYGOLD, the 1815 THIN HONEYGOLD and the TOURBOGRAPH PERPETUAL HONEYGOLD. All three models belong to the 1815 watch family that refers to Ferdinand Adolph Lange's birth year in its name. In his honour, the anniversary collection is tagged with the epithet "Homage to F. A. Lange".

Unique colour combination

The honey-gold case of the 1815 RATTRAPANTE HONEYGOLD "Homage to F. A. Lange" has a diameter of 41.2 millimetres.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The rare case material developed explicitly for A. Lange & Söhne is characterised by exceptional hardness and a warm sheen. For the first time, it has now been combined with a black dial in solid silver that highlights its modern, captivating looks.

Elaborate complication

A. Lange & Söhne's sixth split-seconds chronograph stands out with another premiere: for the first time, the complication is in the spotlight. The complex mechanism ranks among the most elaborate devices in precision watchmaking.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The superposed chronograph and rattrapante sweep-seconds hands make it possible during a running time measurement to ascertain any number of lap times within the course of a minute. The chronograph sweep-seconds hand, the lower hand, consists of pink-gold-plated steel. It entrains the superposed rattrapante – also called split-seconds – hand made of rhodiumed steel. Both hands start together when the pusher at two o'clock is actuated. The rattrapante sweep-seconds hand can be stopped independently of the chronograph sweep-seconds hand and then resynchronised with it.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The French word "rattrapante" describes this sequence. The verb "rattraper" means "to catch up again". This function is controlled with the pusher at ten o'clock. If it is actuated during an ongoing measurement, the rattrapante sweep-seconds hand stops and displays the lap time while the chronograph sweep-seconds hand keeps running. A second actuation of the pusher causes the rattrapante sweep-seconds hand to catch up and then synchronise with the chronograph sweep-seconds hand. This lap-time measurement procedure can be repeated as many times as needed.

A new manufacture caliber

The complex chronograph/rattrapante mechanism is located on the movement side of the new L101.2 manually wound calibre. The control of elapsed or lap-time measurements is handled highly precisely in the classic manner with two column wheels. Like the rattrapante clamp that blocks the rattrapante hand in the lap-time display mode, it is visible through the sapphire-crystal caseback. This allows the precise switching processes to be observed in detail.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

When fully wound, the mainspring barrel delivers a power reserve of 58 hours. In connection with the screw balance, also manufactured in-house, the freely oscillating Lange balance spring guarantees excellent rate accuracy at a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour (3 hertz).

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The artisanal finish of the manually assembled 365-part movement is inspired by the bench-marks developed by Ferdinand Adolph Lange to make his calibres inimitable. The raised Ger-man-silver frame parts are endowed with granular surfaces that are reminiscent of his historic pocket watches in the 1A quality category. Among other features, they had gold poising screws, screwed gold chatons to secure the bearing jewels and a hand-engraved balance cock. Today, these traditional quality hallmarks can again be found in many A. Lange & Söhne timepieces.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

All upper sides of the moving parts of the rattrapante chronograph, such as levers, springs, and jumpers, are decorated with straight graining while the chamfers are polished. Chamfer polishing of acute interior angles presents a particular challenge. It is a clear indication of the immense manual work involved in such movements. The required degree of perfection is achievable only by experienced finishers with sharp special tools. Great caution is needed during the assembly of the granular frame parts since the sensitive surfaces do not tolerate even the most minute scratches.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

All of the fine lines of the free-hand engravings on the balance cock and the chronograph bridge as well as the inscriptions on the bridges are black-rhodiumed. The dark hue of the galvanically applied coating adds plasticity to the engravings. The contemporary evolution of traditional finissage techniques reflects the manufactory's ambition to never stand still.

-------------------------------
About A. Lange & Söhne

Dresden watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange laid the cornerstone of Saxony's precision watchmaking industry when he established his manufactory in 1845. His precious pocket watches remain highly coveted among collectors all over the world. The company was expropriated after World War II, and the name A. Lange & Söhne nearly vanished. In 1990, Ferdinand Adolph Lange's great-grandson Walter Lange had the courage to relaunch the brand. Today, Lange crafts only a few thousand wristwatches per year, predominantly in gold or platinum. They are endowed exclusively with proprietary movements that are lavishly decorated by hand and assembled twice. With 66 manufacture calibres developed since 1990, A. Lange & Söhne has se-cured a top-tier position in the world of watchmaking. Brand icons such as the LANGE 1 with the first outsize date in a regularly produced wristwatch, and the ZEITWERK with its precisely jumping numerals display, rank among the company's greatest successes. Exceptional complications such as the ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER, the TRIPLE SPLIT, and the so far most complicated model, the GRAND COMPLICATION presented in 2013 in a six-watch limited edition, reflect the manufactory's determination to achieve ever new pinnacles in its tradition-steeped horological artistry. Launched in 2019, the sporty-elegant ODYSSEUS marks the beginning of a new chapter for A. Lange & Söhne.

----------------------------------------

Technical Specifications

Model:  1815 Rattrapante Honeygold “Homage to F. A. Lange” Edition

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Reference  425.050

Movement
Calibre L101.2
Diameter: 32.6 mm; height: 7.4 mm
Number of parts     365       
Number of screwed gold chatons   4        
Power reserve     58 hours        
Frequency 18,000 A/h / 3 Hz
Power reserve   58 hours when fully wound
Rubies     36
Case 
Measurements    Honey gold
Diameter     41.2 millimetres        
Height     12.6 millimetres    
Crystal    Scratch-resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal on both sides 
Dial
Solid silver, black
Hands Rhodiumed, honey gold, white gold, pink gold
Bracelet
Brown alligator leather strap
Gold folding clasp with logo A. Lange & Sohne


Edition    Limited to 100 timepieces
This edition is available exclusively in the A. Lange & Söhne boutiques.

Price: 130.000 €*
*Recommended retail price in Germany including VAT. Non-binding quotation, prices subject to change.


#alangesoehne | #1815rattrapante | #175yearsglashuette | #finewatchmaking | #atraditionthatneverstandsstill

--------------------------------
Press Release - 2020
-------------------------------------------------------
Contact information for the media
Arnd Einhorn, Director Press and PR
* Tel.: +49 (0)35053 44-5505
* E-mail: presse@lange-soehne.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
www.facebook.com - Lange&Soehne
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.Alange & Soehne.com

ROGER DUBUIS – EXCALIBUR Superbia Tourbillon Unique Edition

ROGER DUBUIS – EXCALIBUR Superbia Duble Tourbillon White Gold Blue Boutique Unique Edition

The Epitome of Excess

WORLD PREMIERE: for the first time in Hyper Horlogerie, the case is set with triangle-cut gems using invisible technique on a curved surface. Pride, along with excess, are part of Roger Dubuis’ mindset, a duality that allows unfettered exploring of new territories and the ability to demonstrate the other side of its "personality": dramatic singularity. Indeed, powered by an obsessive quest for pleasure, freedom, and hedonism, all these characteristics are inherent to its very DNA. 

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The result is a proud lineage of over the top and utterly contemporary timepieces in which the brand that dares to be different puts technique at the service of aesthetics. In its latest demonstration of all the above, Excalibur Superbia is a stunning contemporary epitome of extravagance guaranteed to send the senses of the most hardened hyper watch aficionado into overdrive.

Mad or possessed?

Roger Dubuis is thus unashamedly guilty of that most serious of the seven deadly sins: Pride, known in Latin as SUPERBIA. Strongly linked to vanity and risk-taking, SUPERBIA is also regarded as having an obsessive addiction to adrenaline, just like, in fact, Roger Dubuis itself. Driven by this, along with its firm belief in living larger than life, Roger Dubuis has created Excalibur Superbia, the ultimate totem for a tribe of people who trust that life is but a game that is for making the most of.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The ultimate example of the Maison’s unshakable pride and excess, Excalibur Superbia is crafted in palladium-enriched white gold and set with exactly 600 precious white diamonds and blue sapphires. This offers a truly extravagant (and ideal) housing for Roger Dubuis iconic signature calibre: a brand-new DOUBLE FLYING TOURBILLON movement, the RD108SQ, inspired by its legendary version launched in 2005, the first double-regulator calibre connected with a differential, built up in volume and adorned with a diamond-set star.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

For the RD108SQ, paying tribute to Roger Dubuis’ status as a forerunner in the field of this extreme complication mastered by few other watchmakers, in the RD108SQ, the double flying tourbillon is transformed into the ultimate iconic signature. Aptly demonstrated by multiple tricks embodied in this latest iteration of off-the-radar hyper horology, the devil, as Roger Dubuis knows all too well, is in the details. In the Excalibur Superbia, Roger Dubuis once again reinvents the game like no one ever has before.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Sending it firmly into the hallowed halls of World Premieres, the excessiveness of the Excalibur Superbia comes neither from its alloy nor its number of stones. What makes it truly bold is that every stone set on the flange, the bezel, the case and the crown is tetrahedron shaped and assembled with an invisible setting on curved surfaces. The hardest way to set a stone, an invisible setting becomes nearly impossible when required on a curved surface.

Where no man dares to tread

Not only has no jeweller or watchmaker ever dared to set a piece in this way, certainly no one has ever been crazy or ambitious enough to do it on a masculine watch. Until now. In this masterpiece in which the complexity of the pattern surpasses any norm known to mankind, master craftsmen at the Maison’s Geneva Manufacture have thus set about creating a backbone structure to encapsulate each stone from the back, complying with the brand’s total determination to avoid any material between the stones themselves. To complicate matters further, each and every glittering stone in the Excalibur Superbia is a tetrahedron, a shape requiring boundless cutting skill as its extreme thinness greatly increases the risk of breaking.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The concept of impossible is nothing if not meaningless at Roger Dubuis where the next challenge is simply round the corner, so not only did every stone have to be tetrahedron-shaped, the pattern was designed so that all 238 stones featured in the case of the Excalibur Superbia has a different shape and is thus singular. Adding insult to injury, the design also demanded that the long-suffering craftsmen of the Manufacture would at times have to deal with the points of six or seven stones meeting simultaneously in the same spot.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The test of Roger Dubuis setters’ skill does not stop here, however. The final sting in the tail of the Excalibur Superbia comes with the grooving – the last step required to complete the invisible setting with the previously perfectly triangulated stones. This is so hard to do on a tetrahedron stone that it took each gemsetter an average of 30 minutes to do a single groove, corresponding to 900 hours for this operation alone on all three sides of the 600 diamonds, plus 420 hours to set the case and bezel – and that’s without even counting the stone-cutting! The entire process takes about three times longer than the same case set with baguette-cut stones. And just for good measure, reaching the very pinnacle of complexity Roger Dubuis-style, in the Excalibur Superbia, this already painstaking, groundbreaking process has been entirely achieved on a curved surface.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Simple, straight and utterly frank , the lines of this exceptional piece of artistry are strongly reminiscent of the spatial art forms favoured by interior design artist KAZ SHIRANE with whom the brand that dares to be different shares a number of characteristics – not least from a visual perspective.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

“I create interactive spaces that focuses on visitors. Whenever the space user enters a room filled with mirrors, there will be interaction – a reflection in mirrors - and the user can become the co-creator of this space. This mirrored space is designed to serve as a receiver and amplifier of the user’s will. The space literally reflects the mind of the visitor, enabling him/her to become an artist. The only rule imposed on visitors in my installation is to enjoy the space as freely as they want. “

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Roger Dubuis and I share the same vision: we create incredible pieces that make people feel they are the protagonists. For me, the Roger Dubuis Superbia watch is like a time machine that can take us to an extraordinary world in an instant. I always want to create such space in my artworks. The elaborate craftsmanship is, of course, absolutely wonderful. But beyond that, what struck me the most is that it is a very artistic piece: its distinctive design catches the light so beautifully and can be noticed even from afar.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

I was honoured that my work inspired the design of their new watch. It proves that art has many facets and can open up to new possibilities.

I admire Roger Dubuis as it pours its heart into making its products; the importance it attaches to quality as well as its attention to details are visible in every aspect.

KAZ SHIRANE, artist

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

I am looking forward to exploring this collaboration further. My role will be to express the Roger Dubuis philosophy and enable customers to experience its one-of-a-kind world through my art”

Memento mori

A hyper watch for a hyper tribe, the Excalibur Superbia is the demonstration of a shared mindset focused on living life to the fullest extent and with the greatest intensity. In the grand tradition of memento mori pocket watches, and as a reminder that this time on earth is short and must be filled with the unfettered pleasure, madness and freedom, the movement of the Excalibur Superbia is secretly inscribed with the words Memento mori, a detail that will henceforth feature on each Hyperwatch created by the Maison. Because to remember you must die is to remember you must live – and is unquestionably the most exciting way to experience hyper horology.

-----------------------------------------
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Collection: EXALIBUR

Model:  EXALIBUR Superbia Double Tourbillon - Unique Piece

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Ref.  RDDBEX0821

Movement
Calibre  RD108SQ caliber
Mechanical, manual winding
Functions: Hours, minutes and double flying tourbillon at 4 and 8 o’clock
Decorations: Shot-blasted, trued-up and circular-grained plate and bridges with NAC coating
Number of parts: 319 components
Jewels: 32 rubis
Diameter: 16 ¾’’’ 39.8
Thickness: 7.3 mm
Frequency: 2 x 3 Hz (21'600 vph)
Power-reserve: 72 hours
Poinçon de Genève certified
Case
Skeletonized, Ø45 mm, case, bezel and crown set with tetrahedron-cut gems
Case back in white gold set with brilliant cut diamonds.
Thickness: 14.4 mm
Sapphire crystal and anti-reflective treatment.
Water resistance: 10 BAR (100 m)
Dial
Material: Double surface flange set with triangle-cut gems 
Strap
Calf leather strap. Easily interchangeable with QRS - Quick Release System
Buckle: white gold cover set with diamonds, with titanium blades, triple folding.
Easily interchangeable with QRS - Quick Release System

Production: EDITION
Boutique exclusive model Unique series 1 of 1
---------------------------------------------- 
Press release - 2020
----------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
For more information, please contact:
Pauline SIZORN
Press Manager
Tel: +41(0)22 783 28 44
Email: pauline.sizorn@rogerdubuis.com
------------------------------------------------------------ 
www.facebook.com - Roger Dubuis
---------------------------------------------------------------------
www.RogerDubuis.com