A. Lange & Söhne @ LANGE 1 TIME ZONE

A. Lange & Söhne presents a unique piece of its LANGE 1 TIME ZONE to the winner of this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como. This prize is more than a cup. Last weekend, David Cohen from Canada received his new gem from the hands of Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of the Saxon watch manufactory: a one-of-a-kind LANGE 1 TIME ZONE. Cohen received the award for his Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS 6th Series Coupé with a Figoni body of 1933.

The watch was presented to the winner during a gala dinner at the Villa d’Este, the venue of the Concorso d’Eleganza, the most exclusive event to celebrate the magic of classic cars. In his congratulatory speech, Wilhelm Schmid recalled how progress in time keeping has often been inspired by increased mobility – like the introduction of time zones. The choice of the LANGE 1 TIME ZONE as basis for this year’s Concorso edition takes up this idea. With the indication of two time zones this watch, like no other, symbolises the art of travelling in style. As a reverence to the venue of the competition, the Central European Time is represented by the town of Como on the rotating city ring around this time-zone watch with its hand-engraved dust cover.

For the very first time, A. Lange & Söhne has sponsored this prestigious event, founded in 1929. The fascination for aesthetics and design shared both by the connoisseurs of historic automobiles and the collectors of fine mechanical time­pieces has been the main motivation for A. Lange & Söhne to enter into this part­nership. On Sunday at summer temperatures, the public day of the event attracted nearly 6,000 visitors to Cernobbio.

A. Lange & Söhne dates back to the initiative of the Dresden watch­maker Ferdi­nand A. Lange, who, in opening his watchmaking manufactory in 1845, laid the foundation for fine watchmaking in Saxony. His high-quality pocket watches are highly coveted collectors’ items all over the world. Nowadays, the annual production is limited to just a few thousand wristwatches in gold or platinum. They are fitted exclusively with move­ments developed and manufactured in-house, sumptuously decorated and assembled by hand. With more than 40 manufacture calibres in little more than 20 years, A. Lange & Söhne has reached a leading position among the world’s best watch­ brands. Their biggest successes include innovative timepieces such as the LANGE 1, the first series-production wristwatch to feature an outsize date and the LANGE ZEITWERK with its precisely jumping numeral display of unmatched clarity – watches that have become icons of the traditional brand.