Lange Connoisseur Akademie: Class for collectors?

Lange hosted a very special event in Singapore, a series of 3, all interlinked together. Some of you may already have heard of the Lange Akademie. This was started and headed by the beautiful Joanna Lange (yes, she recently wedded Benjamin Lange, who is the son of Walter Lange) in 2008. And have been training retail staff from the points of sale around the world.

Franck Giacobini, Lange's MD for the region had this idea that it would be interesting to do a version of this course for the connoisseurs. The first Lange Connoisseurs Akademie was kicked off in Hong Kong sometime late 2010. And they decided to do the same for Singapore. The first of the 3 sessions of lectures, workshops and dinner started at the private room at Novus Restaurant at the Singapore National Museum on April 27. Here is a photoessay of the event...mainly in black and white.



The reception:



Note the white coats, embroided with our names waiting for us to put on...to be "real" watchmakers.

Awaiting for class to start:



Michelle, Lange's chief in Singapore, opening the session:



Joanna starting off the lesson:



Manfred Weber, Master Watchmaker and head of the repair department based in Hong Kong was there to show us the finer points of watchmaking:



Joanna

Another shot of the group, through the large mirrors that adorn the room...oops, self portrait as well...





After listening to the lectures, we started the practical...



Three stations were introduced...bending of the stop spring to hack the tourbillon was the first station...below is a model of the arrangement, showing the tourbillon cage of the CABARET Tourbillon.



The task of the group was to bend, by hand, the finger which extends when the crown is pulled to stop the tourbillon.

The second station was to do a black polish of some minute components, and the final station was to remove and re-insert the tiny screws on the balance.

Here are some of the team, trying out their hand...