It beats at 18,000 VPH, has 40 jewels, and boasts a power reserve of 36 hours. That kind of precision set a new standard for wristwatch chronographs. Not only is it functional, however, it is a mechanical triumph in its own right the snail cam attached to the chronograph minute hand is engaged by a lever that pushes the minute counter forward at the precise instant it passes zero. In the meeting of form and function, this was a watch whose form was decided first, and only then did Lange turn to designing its innerworkings. The challenge of engineering a flyback chronograph with that outsized date and low slung subdials was immense, and Fleischer’s success lead to one of the most heralded calibres ever made. The movement was designed Lange’s Annegret Fleischer. It debuted with the Datograph in 1999, when the idea of prioritizing the creation of in-house movements was a more radical idea than it is today. This handwound movement is found in the other iterations of the Datograph and is absolutely legendary in its own right. Lange & Söhne caliber L951.1 column wheel chronograph movement.
Underneath that lovely dial is the built-in-house A. Without this functionality, you’d have to stop the chronograph, reset it to zero, and then restart, by which time you’d have long been left in the dust by whatever it is your timing.
LANGE DATAGRAPH BACK SERIES
Among other things, this can be practical for when a series of timed intervals is required (steak timing comes to mind). Essentially, the flyback function provides an instantaneous chronograph reset without stopping the timing function in its entirety. Lange & Söhne Datograph 403.031 Dufour, or a fan of chronograph complications in general, you probably already know how a flyback chronograph works. That big date is a key feature, as much a part of what makes this watch as the chronograph the name Datograph, after all, is a portmanteau of the word “date” and the word “chronograph.” As for balance and proportion, it’s actually pretty magnificent-the two subdials balance themselves against the big date at 12 o’clock, creating an equilateral “triangle” with three equal points of visual weight. For one, it allows for larger, more legible subdials when needing to accommodate a big date complication. Still, there’s a lot to be said for this design. To some, these two subdials may throw off the dail’s sense of balanced symmetry by seeming to “droop” rather than sitting squarely at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock as many chronograph subdials do. Then there are the subdials below 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, which are small seconds and the instantaneous 30-minute chronograph totalizer, respectively. Lange & Söhne signature and just above the words “DATOGRAPH FLYBACK”. Take the big date window, for instance, seated at 12 o’clock beneath the A. There are certainly other eye-catching elements beyond the precious metal, however. The roman numeral indices, the hour, minute, and chronograph second hands, the baton indices, and the strap buckle all share the same soft golden hue. The rose gold of the case may be what first catches your eye about this watch, but more careful examination reveals that the material is carefully interwoven throughout the watch, making a powerful, lustrous visual statement against the deep black dial. This first-of-its-kind rose gold Datograph has been nicknamed The “Dufourgraph” by some in the industry because the legendary watchmaker Philippe Dufour proudly owns one, praising it for its movement architecture, its finishing, and its design, and touting it as the best serially made chronograph in existence.
Its instantly recognizable rose gold livery states proudly that it’s no ordinary Datograph (is there such a thing?). It was only made for two years, from 2003 until 2005. Lange & Söhne Datograph 403.031 Rose Gold “Dufour”.Īs you’ve no doubt come to expect from the watches we discuss here on The Collective, the Datograph Ref. With that in mind, today we will examine a particularly rare and downright audacious example, the A. The Datograph is famous for its exquisite blend of form and function it’s a watch that seems to embody horological greatness from both a design perspective and an engineering perspective.
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