Being the serious-minded German brand that it is, A. Lange & Söhne almost never makes unique or one-off watches. But just before Watches & Wonders opened its doors last month, Lange presented the Grand Complication in white gold with a black enamel dial to its lucky, large-wristed owner.

First launched in 2013, the Grand Complication was a watch of many superlatives – the most complicated, most expensive, and most biggest Lange wristwatch ever made. Six of the 50 mm originals were made, all identical and all resembling a pocket watch with lugs. The new Grand Complication, on the other hand, feels more contemporary, but it remains the most complicated, expensive, and biggest Lange wristwatch ever made.

Lange’s “grand comp” was launched at Watches & Wonders when it was still a Hong Kong event. I was surprised by the watch, and while impressed by the technical achievement, it felt derivative. As it was then, the Grand Complication was essentially a replica, right down to the white enamel dial.

The new Grand Complication looks and feels like an entirely different watch. Made in-house like Lange’s recent enamel dials, the black champleve dial is striking and modern. The white gold case contributes equally to the fresh look that departs the 19th century aesthetic.

However, in a strange twist, the new case material leaves the brand logo along the dial flange even more obvious than before. The logo now seems oversized though it is unchanged from the original version.

It’s been 13 years since the Grand Complication was launched, and Lange hasn’t debuted a comparable grand complication since, but I am sure Tony de Haas and his team are working on something interesting.

The Grand Complication came about after Lange restored pocket watch no. 42’500, a grand complication in an ornately engraved “Professor Graff” case dating to 1902. Originally sold in Vienna, watch no. 42’500 returned to Lange in 2001 in truly abysmal condition. It took seven years to restore the watch, which involved remaking part the movement from scratch, allowing the brand to draw up plans and schematics of the movement, which was one of the most complicated ever in a Lange watch.

Like nearly all grand complications of the period, the movement of no. 42’500 was built on a Swiss-made ebauche by Louis-Elisée Piguet, the venerable movement maker from the Vallee de Joux. The movement came to Lange via Audemars Piguet (AP), as AP was then something akin to a white-label supplier when it came to such grand complications at the time.

Notably, variants of the ebauche were used for the two most complicated AP pocket watches known today. One is the S. Smith & Son “Grosse Piece” that sold last year for US$7.7 million, while the other was made by Union, Lange’s fellow Glashütte watchmaker, and is today known as the Universelle, sitting right in the centre of the Audemars Piguet museum.

The work done on pocket watch no. 42’500 gave birth to the Grand Complication, a wrist-borne remake of the pocket watch. Speaking in 2013, Anthony de Haas, Lange’s head of technical development, explained, “Pocket watch no. 42’500 is perhaps the most prominent and sophisticated example… [of] horological complications that A. Lange & Söhne took to new levels in the late 19th and early 20th century… The know-how acquired during its restoration provided valuable insights and sparked new impulses.”

Nearly identical to the pocket watch in technical terms, albeit with optimisation of the movement construction, the Grand Complication incorporates the same multitude of functions: grand and petite sonnerie; minute repeater; mono-pusher, split-seconds chronograph with 1/5-second foudroyante; and perpetual calendar with moon phase and leap year.

The L1902 movement comprises three barrels and three gear trains, one driving the time and calendar displays, the second for the clockwatch functions, and the final one for the lightning seconds.

Even the dial of the Grand Complication was almost a replica of the original, but the design was tweaked to accommodate the modern-day 1815 aesthetic. Gone were the frilly Louis XIV hands and Breguet-style numerals, which were replaced by the familiar Lange elements like lance-shaped hands.

The unique Grand Complication has undergone a transformation makeover. Even though it’s exactly the same in terms of dimensions and movement, it is a different watch.

The white gold case is the same 50 mm wide and 20.3 mm high, but it feels more like a modern-day Lange than a pocket watch replica. Likewise the dial has same overall design, though some details different presumably as a result of the different enamelling technique.

The dial is produced with the champleve technique, just like last year’s 1815 Tourbillon Black Enamel.

It starts as an 18k white gold disc that is engraved to create relief markings like the hour numerals. Enamel is then applied onto the dial around the markings and fired in an oven, a process that’s repeated several times to build up several layers of enamel. Once the enamel is thick enough, the dial is lapped to give it a flat, glossy surface where the relief elements are now flush with the enamel.

Champleve enamelling is applied to each of the five parts of the dial – the main dial and four registers – that are then assembled to form the finished dial.

The L1902 movement is unchanged and just as densely complicated as the original. It’s made up of 876 parts arranged into layers for each of the complications, as is tradition for such grand complications.

As with the original, the L1902 here is visible through an open back with relief markings on its rim, except this bears “Unique Piece” right beside the crown. And the keen-eyed enthusiast with a sense of history will note the serial number: “260’000”. This large, round number is a subtle reference to important historical Lange pocket watches, underlining this Grand Complication’s status as a significant watch in Lange history.

Here’s the L1902 inside the original pink gold version for a deeper look inside the calibre. Many of the key mechanisms of the L1902, including the triple barrels and lightning seconds, are visible.

Years after the original, this unique Grand Complication is a reminder of Lange’s top-class watchmaking. And it lands a little differently from the original since Lange has solidified its status as a world-class maker of haute horlogerie in the intervening decade.

Back to top.