A. Lange & Sohne Factory Trip Part 2: The Luxury German Watch Manufacturing Process

Mysteries are things you can't unravel in your mind. Knowledge of origin is key to dispelling an enigma, and the pathway to appreciation. You can't have passion for something you don't really understand. I began my love of watches ignorant of what went into making most watches. True timepiece appreciation can only come when you really know what goes into constructing watches. It gives you the ability to evaluate the high quality from the mainstream, and foresight to look beyond the dial.

This article is the second part of my A. Lange & Sohne Germany trip discussion. It has taken me longer to get to writing this than I would have preferred, but it has given me time to lets these facts ruminate. In the part I article covering my trip I left off talking about the history of the brand and describing the watch making region. We are ready to go into the heart of the manufacture, taking (some of)  the mystery out of the end result, and impressing upon you what really goes into making the finest of German watches.

How I wish I could detail everything that goes into the manufacturing and construction of beautiful A. Lange & Sohne watches. What I have experienced, while in depth, feels like merely glimpse into the entire process. What I really saw was the major steps and processes involved in the construction, decoration, and assembly of watch movements. Realize that the entire process is high complex, regimented, and time consuming. Dozens of people can be involved in the manufacture of just one watch movement, and that is just the movement. Lange is a movement maker, which means the rest of the watches are produced by other companies to Lange's specifications. These other parts include the case, dial, strap, and other housing elements of the watches. Lange designs and provides detailed specifications to expert providers that supply these necessary parts. For example, the available bracelet on certain Lange watches is supplied by a top jewelry maker, and are finer than most any watch bracelet you'll ever see or wear.  Companies that do make everything that goes into a watch are known to be "vertically integrated," a status only possible with thousands upon thousands of employees (i.e. The Swatch Group). With just over 500 employees, A. Lange & Sohne sticks to what it does best.

Lange puts all its efforts into stellar watch movement design and detailed manufacturing. Would you believe that their watches average 6 -14 months to produce? I fact that I keep rattling off to people as it is hard to believe myself. I am talking about each individual watch! Basic watch making of course doesn't require that much effort, but that isn't the point. The idea here is to lovingly caress each watch with an enormous amount of attention and refinement. Testing, retesting, and evaluating before any watch is handed over to a customer. This is what luxury watch making is all about. Fanatical attention to detail using only the best procedures, no matter the cost. The result can be what you consider a family heirloom, this is what you pass down to other generations. There aren't other things like this in the world, at least not very many. So when you talk about luxury German watches you aren't just talking about a "valuable brand" or a rich helping of gold and diamonds, you are talking about how the watches are made - and that is the most important point to get out of this article.