A. Lange & Söhne, the cult German representative of traditional luxury watchmaking, showed up again with a Zeitwerk Minute Repeater model five years after its introduction.
Zeitwerk Minute Repeater model, which debuted in 2012, was the only watch that could offer Jumping Hour and decimal Minute Repeater features at the same time. The platinum only model, whose assembly takes 7 months to complete, is back on the scene this year with its 18K white gold version...
The new model comes with an 18K gold case measuring 44.2mm in diameter and 14.1 in height. The case has sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating on both sides. Water-resistant up to 30 meters only, the case sports a winding crown at 2 o'clock and a pusher that controls the Minute Repeater feature at 10 o'clock.
The model’s dial features typical Zeitwerk details. The Jumping Hour feature hour indicator is located at 9 o'clock and the minute indicator is at 3 o'clock on the dial, where blue and silver tones are mainly used. The small seconds counter is located at 6 o'clock, and the power reserve indicator is at 12 o'clock. The hands accompanying the dial, which is completely made of solid silver, are made of rhodium-plated white gold.
For the movement of the new model, there is nothing else to say other than engineering wonder… Caliber L043.5, manufactured by the classical A. Lange & Söhne standards, is a hand-winding movement. The movement with 93 jewels/771 pieces is designed with a diameter of 37.7mm and a height of 10.9mm. Consisting of components that are carefully added to the three-quarter main body made of German silver, the movement beats at a frequency of 18,000vph. The power reserve of the movement is 36 hours, in which the Minute Repeater feature is not working.
Minute Repeater feature, which also gives the model its name, is activated by the pusher at 10 o'clock and announces the time displayed on the dial. For example, at 7.52, the hammer on the left hits the gong seven times, once for every hour. Then two pairs of tones are heard for ten-minute intervals, and finally, the hammer on the right hits the gong twice for two minutes. While the Minute Repeater feature is active, the progress of the Jumping Hour discs is stopped until the working time is up. Thanks to this pausing process, which can extend up to 20 seconds, the time displayed digitally is always the same as the acoustic time. For a similar reason, the winding crown cannot be pulled out while Minute Repeater is active. The activation of the Minute Repeater button separates the paddle gear that drives the hammer movement and the gear train connected to the mainspring. In this way, unnecessary energy expenditure is prevented. Besides, the Minute Repeater movement cannot be activated when the power reserve drops below twenty hours. In other words, the watch stopping unexpectedly before the gong sequence is completed is prevented as well.
The model, limited to only 30 pieces, is accompanied by a hand-stitched blue alligator leather strap and 18K white gold buckle.
