In 2002, the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Moon Phase was first presented by this manufacture from Saxony. The Lange 1 Moon Phase is without a doubt the most successful watch from A. Lange & Söhne with its highly popular astronomical complication. The new Lange 1 Moon Phase has now been endowed with a new manual wound movement that takes on a particularly realistic approach by combining the moon-phase display with a day/night indicator. This movement assures that the moon always orbits against a realistic backdrop —a bright blue sky by day and a dark blue starry sky at night. This moon phase display tracks the lunar cycle —with an average duration of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds —so accurately that it takes 122.6 years for the display to deviate from the true synodic period by just one day.

Just as if the previous iteration of the Lange 1 Moon Phase wasn't exceptional enough, the arrangement of the display is based on a new, particularly realistic concept. A separate solid gold moon pursues its orbit in the foreground.

Behind it, a celestial disc —also made of solid gold— performs exactly one revolution every 24 hours. On the disc, the different times of day are represented by varying blue hues caused by interference effects. During the day, it shows a bright sky without stars, while at night it depicts a dark sky with prominently contrasting laser-cut stars. Thus, the moon always orbits against a realistic background that doubles as a day/night indicator when setting the watch.

The now 20th Lange calibre L121.3 with a moon phase display is based on the Lange 1 movement introduced two years ago and it has the same performance attributes. This includes the characteristic twin mainspring barrel with a maximum power reserve of 72 hours and the precisely jumping outsize date display.

The new Lange 1 Moon Phase manual wound movement is composed of 438 parts and fitted with 47 jewels —eight of those in gold chatons. The movement also features an escapement with a cam-poised balance and a free-sprung Lange hairspring. Suspended beneath the hand-engraved balance cock, it beats with a frequency of 21,600 vph. The 70 parts for the moon-phase display were so cleverly integrated in the L121.3 in-house calibre that it is only marginally larger than the calibre L121.1 inside the Lange 1.

The asymmetric solid silver dial sets a remarkably harmonious stage for the luminous time and power reserve indications complemented with an outsize date, the moon phase display and the day/night indicator. The new Lange 1 Moon Phase is available in 18K white gold with black dial ref. 192.029, 18K pink gold with silvered dial ref. 192.032 and platinum with rhodié dial ref. 192.025, all cased up in a 38.5 mm case and paired with a hand-stitched alligator leather strap with ping buckle in matching metal.

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