Hands-On: The A. Lange & Söhne’s Datograph Handwerkskunst
The Datograph Handwerkskunst. Craftsmanship. That’s what “Handwerkskunst” means, in all its intense glory, and a perfect example of what a beautiful language German is.
All jokes aside – and apologies to my German friends and the heritage of the many folks in Wisconsin I grew up with – I’ve always been a bit baffled by the Handwerkskunst releases from Lange. The things I’ve loved from Lange are the reserved, austere, and might I even say visually “Germanic” pieces that are quieter but hide something special under the hood. You could say that perfectly described the recent Onyx dial Lange 1 releases. Handwerkskunst watches seemed so different than anything else from Lange that I didn’t understand the rationale. Then I saw my first Handwerkskunst – this Handwerkskunst – and it clicked.
For the 25th anniversary of the Datograph, I expected big things. The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Lumen certainly qualified as something big. At $620,000 and 14.5mm thick, it’s big in a lot of ways. On the other limited edition, 125 pieces of the “Up/Down” in white gold with a blue dial, felt a bit lacking. Sure, it was a nice looking watch and something never done before in the line, but for the 25th anniversary, I expected a new movement or something. A new case and dial, however charming, felt like a bit of a missed opportunity. Frankly, the Up/Down isn’t my favorite Datograph either. I like the clean, classic appeal of the original Datograph, with a more balanced dial layout.
Point in favor of the new Handwerkskunst on that front. The new watch, ref. 405.048F, drops the Up/Down layout (with power reserve indication gone from six o’clock) while maintaining the normal Up/Down case size of 41mm by 13.1mm and now in a yellow gold case. We’ll come back to the dial, with it’s beautiful tremblage finishing, in a minute but if you pick up a Lange and don’t turn it over within the first 30 seconds, there’s something seriously wrong with you.
Technically, this is a new movement, the A. Lange & Söhne caliber L951.8. You can trace the linage back to the L951.1 found in the original Datographs. The current generation, including the recent white gold/blue dial release, all have an updated L951.6 caliber that shows that power reserve indicator at six o’clock. More than just shedding the display, the new L951.8 features added attention to finishing that is immediately apparent and incredibly striking.
Like past Handwerkskunst and Homage to F.A. Lange pieces, the German silver movement plate is frosted, giving a bit of extra texture and contrast to the plates. A bit of digression but Lange movements have always been hard for me to shoot as the color cast of German silver shifts significantly in the light and can go a bit green in a way that’s nearly impossible to fix in post. Something about the frosting not only makes the movement easier to photograph, but the hand-finishing on the plates and chamfering on the edges pops so much more than on a normal Datograph.
Lange’s balance cock hand engraving is always a beautiful feature – a nice bonus that I frankly sometimes take for granted – and while the new engraving looks less complex than you’d see on other Lange releases, the way the more simplified vine motif shines against the frosted plate makes it look more beautiful and luxurious than your “average” hand engraving.
Finally, the chronograph levers (and a few other components) all have received special hand-work attention. While those components previously had a brushed finish with some level of polish and shine, the Datograph Handwerkskunst has fully black polished chronograph levers. Below, you can see that it creates a mirror-like effect. Above, you’ll see glimpses of the levers reflecting a dark room or shadow, turning pitch black. The goal is to create a perfectly flat surface with no waves or bumps. Those bumps would pick up light reflected at off angles, ruining a perfectly mirror-polished surface’s 180º flat angle of reflectivity.
A common technique is to polish on a smooth, flat zinc or tin plate coated in an abrasive compound, like diamond dust suspended in oil (though I don’t know exactly how Lange’s process works). Black polishing a screw can take three to 20 minutes per head, so imagine how much time it takes to do a chronograph lever (and not over-polish it in a way that ruins operability).
Then there’s the case. This is the first yellow gold production Datograph outside the 39mm Datograph 403.041, nicknamed the “Yellowjacket.” That alone is a nice nod to the collector base, but by dropping the black dial of the “Yellowjacket” you lose a bit of punch and contrast. You get something else entirely, however.
Ahh, the dial. This, I think, was the thing that held me back from past Handwerkskunst releases. Some of the dials feature other handwork or bold designs, like the 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar with a whimsical enamel star pattern (again, a bit too whimsical for my taste). And sure, by comparison, the black dial of the Yellowjacket seems so much more legible. Plus, if you have anything close to trypophobia, the tremblage dial here probably makes your skin crawl. We’ve also seen this dial finishing in the past on the 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst. But while this strange texture seems deceptively simple from a distance, it’s incredibly impressive on close examination.
The entire dial is made of yellow gold, with black-rhodium treatment for the main dial segment and light-grey rhodium subdials. The indices and Roman numerals are applied (and yellow gold) but everything you see otherwise is done in relief on the dial. The “Made in Germany,” all the tachymeter scales, and the subdial text is all laser carved in relief. The texture, meanwhile is all hand-engraved tremblage finish.
While I didn’t understand it before, as a complete package, the new Handwerkskunst is incredibly charming. Maybe it’s a sign of growing up, maturing as a watch lover, that while I still love the bold austerity of a clean-looking platinum, black dial Lange, the softness of this new release feels nearly perfect. I know that “quiet luxury” isn’t cool anymore, I never really was “hip” to what cool is, and this both feels like quiet luxury and pretty damn cool. At $217,600 (according to multiple sources), it better be cool. But it certainly doesn’t disappoint. However, if you want to see something else that’s super cool in a bold way, here’s a quick look at something else.
While visiting the New York Lange boutique to photograph the Handwerkskunst, I also got to take a look at what some people might consider the ultimate Datograph: a unique piece Datograph. For a lot of Lange collectors, anything unique is basically the top tier of anything you could imagine getting your hands on. Other unique pieces have sold for Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” pièce unique made for the retailer Dubail, with 201 baguette diamonds set into a diamond case and diamond-set bracelet for €1,200,000. In 2018, an A. Lange & Söhne 1815 “Homage To Walter Lange” in steel sold for $852,525 all in. And in 2022, the white gold 1815 Chronograph “Hampton Court Edition” was auctioned off for CHF 1,058,500. This new Hampton Court piece, to be auctioned on November 9 by Phillips in Geneva, is basically the ultimate upon ultimate. The proceeds will go to the British charity The King’s Trust.
Unfortunately, the watch was wrapped in protective plastic, keeping it safe from any scratches or fingerprints on the highly polished case. This isn’t a sample or prototype, mind you; this watch will be delivered to the winning client at the auction, so it was imperative I use gloves even with the watch wrapped up safely. They were probably mostly concerned about the bracelet, which – aside from the grey dial – is the star of the show. The watch is cased in white gold, but the white gold bracelet is particularly difficult to polish, so I understand the hesitancy to show it outside of the plastic.
The bracelet is basically identical to the one Lange used to offer as an option on a few pieces, like the Datograph Perpetual (which were made in platinum). But I was told that this white gold Wellendorf bracelet was left over from past stock and fitted to the new Hampton Court piece. Finally, there’s the caseback. While I couldn’t get a peak at the movement, it’s only because of the hunter caseback, engraved with the Hampton Court logo. I guess that the movement of one of the coolest Datographs in the world will be reserved for whoever wins the auction.
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Hodinkee