Walter Lange would have turned 100 years old on July 29, 2024. By reestablishing Lange Uhren GmbH on December 7, 1990, he not only succeeded in reviving his family's extensive watchmaking tradition after being forced to stop for over 40 years but also paved the way for the resurgence of Saxon precision watchmaking founded by his great-grandfather in 1845.

Walter Lange, who was closely connected with A. Lange & Söhne as a representative and ambassador until his death on January 17, 2017, was honored many times over for his outstanding services to the Glashütte watch industry. Despite his success, he will always be remembered for his charismatic personality, open-mindedness, warmth, modesty, and down-to-earth attitude. When Walter Lange approached others, he would always treat them as equals. With his vision of responsible entrepreneurship and his commitment to the trade, for example, to the next generation of watchmakers, his influence still characterizes the corporate culture of A. Lange & Söhne today.

Born in Dresden in 1924, Walter Lange was the fourth child of Rudolf and Hildegart Lange and spent a sheltered childhood in Glashütte, which was influenced by the effects of the global economic crisis. The sight of the unemployed in front of the company's headquarters was etched deep into his memory —and later became the driving force behind his actions. There was no doubt in his mind that Walter Lange would become a watchmaker. He often accompanied his father Rudolf to the manufacture to inspect the finished chronometers. After completing primary school in Glashütte and his secondary education in Dresden, in the spring of 1941 he began an apprenticeship as a watchmaker in Karlstein, Lower Austria, at the School of the Watchmaking Industry. Just one year later, in the summer of 1942, there was a sudden interruption: at the age of 18, Walter Lange was called for military service in the Second World War. As he always emphasised, the only reason he survived was because of sheer luck. On May 7, 1945, he returned home severely wounded. But his luck was short-lived: Glashütte was bombed on the last day of the war, on May 8, 1945. The "shipyard", was the main production building of A. Lange & Söhne also called, was badly damaged. What remained was seized by the Soviet occupiers. These included watches, components and machines as well as intellectual property, such as detailed documentation of the production of the Lange marine chronometer, which Walter Lange had to produce himself.

Walter Lange's most important sparring partner was the entrepreneur Günter Blümlein (1943–2001), a charismatic strategist who also firmly believed that a comeback of the historic brand was possible.
With a keen eye for quality, Lange and Blümlein, a dynamic duo, focused on preserving traditional craftsmanship and developing technical innovations. The first collection with the Lange 1, Arkade, Saxonia and Tourbillon "Pour le Mérite" was launched on October 24, 1994, in the Dresden Royal Palace: Experts and connoisseurs were immediately impressed. The 123 examples produced were all sold. Many product presentations followed, and Walter Lange never hesitated to share his advice and experience. Until the very end, he would speak to customers, press representatives and business partners, giving interviews and talking about his life. He always engaged with everyone with a great deal of openness, even in Glashütte, where he was a welcomed guest.

Walter Lange received as many as ten personal honours during his lifetime, including international awards such as the Prix Spécial du Jury du Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève in 2014, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in 2013 —both in Geneva— and the Caesars Award in Bucharest in 2011. To mark the 175th anniversary of Glashütte watchmaking, the town and A. Lange & Söhne subsequently honoured Walter Lange's life's work. A life-size bronze sculpture created by Hamburg artist Thomas Jastram was unveiled on September 18, 2020, in front of guests from the world of politics, people from the industry and the press —just a few steps away from the monument to his great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Other official honours include honorary citizenship of the town of Glashütte in 1995, the Saxon Order of Merit in 1998 and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1st class in 2015.

“He Was the Beating Heart of our Manufacture.” With these words, Wilhelm Schmid remembers Walter Lange. His legacy should also be preserved in the future. "Walter Lange represented the old school in the truest sense of the word. He has brought his values, such as watchmaking, his down-to-earth attitude and his humble character to the company and firmly anchored them so that his way of thinking and his actions will continue to have an impact and guide our decisions as a company in the future," says the Lange CEO.

Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid pays tribute to Walter Lange at the ceremony on 13 October 2022.

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