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Welcome to Dialed In, Esquire's weekly column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world since March 2020.
Date windows are a peculiarity of watchmaking that often prove divisive. For some, the date windows often added to existing watch designs to offer a little newness are considered an annoying and unnecessary intrusion, messing up the otherwise clean design of a dial. For luxury German watchmaker A. Lange and Söhne, however, they are vital and integral to the brand DNA.
A. Lange and Söhne’s 175-year history ago has been a more up-and-down affair than you might expect. From December 7, 1845, for very close to 100 years, it was a leading light in the localized German watchmaking hub around the town of Glashütte, situated in rolling, forested hills just south of Dresden. The Lange family supplied one-off, extraordinary timepieces to order for royalty across Europe. With a reputation for excellence and a restrained design language distinct from Swiss watchmaking, Lange looked set to celebrate its centenary even amidst the chaos of World War II. Then, on the last night of the war, a Russian bombing raid all but deleted the factory.