Two new images of Lange's Datograph/1815 Chronograph movement

Available now on poster, email for details. Prints are limited edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered, approximately 800mmx600mm.

Extreme Macro: Lange L951 chronograph, partial movement

I was going to take the day off from blogging...as announced in my FB page, but I was working with a large print for a client. The print is for the full movement of the fabulous Lange L951 used in the Datograph. After finishing editing the image for the A1 print, I decided to show a partial of the movement.

This is one of the most beautiful movements ever made. And certainly, the best chronograph ever made in my books.

Image looks slightly oversharpened, because the final sharpening was done for inkjet print on my Canon ImageProf 6350 Large Format Printer, and not for web.

Super wide panorama of the Singapore skyline from the Marina Barrage

Continuation of the Marina Barrage series...

This is the final post on the panoramas from the Marina Barrage. Click on the photograph to get a larger 1920 pixel wide wallpaper.

Scenes from the Barrage: The Singapore Flyer

Following the series of photographs from the Barrage...this one at dusk, of the Singapore Flyer.

The Flyer, photographed from the Gardens by the Bay, just at sunset

Click on the photograph to get a larger 1920 pixel wide wallpaper.

The Flyer, photographed from within the waters of the Barrage, just at sunset

Lange 1 Mother of Pearl

The Lange 1 has many iterations. I have my favourites, the rose gold, white dial and the white gold white dial with blued steel hands are two. But one version which remain a favourite of many of my friends and collectors is the Lange 1 Mother of Pearl.

With a guilloched mother of pearl dial. For me, the watch exudes some feminity, with the coy play of light on the cut dial. Quite beautiful and mesmerising...

The movement is pure Lange L901. Still looking good after all these years...(note: The L901 was introduced in 1994, almost 20 years ago)

Views from the Marina Barrage: The MBS at sunset

I went to look for some interesting sunset photographs of the Singapore skyline...the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the bay area.

This series of photographs, more later as I will show one each week, will feature some of the photographs I took, culminating in a very wide panorama of the entire CBD. Click on the photograph to get a larger 1920 pixel wide wallpaper.

Significant Chronographs: The 1815 Chronograph

Significant chronographs: Lange 1815 Chronograph

This post is dedicated to my good friend Eddie Sng, whose watch is featured here today.

The 1815 Chronograph was introduced as perhaps a purer version of the iconic Lange Datograph. Simpler without the trademark outsized date, but as I said, purer because traditional chronographs typically do not feature a date display, except in complications with perpetual calendars.

The dial is pure, simple, and well...perfect.

And the movement side, exactly the same as in the Datograph...as the date mechanism for the Datograph is just below the dial, the view from the rear crystal of the 1815 Chronograph is exactly the same...showing the magnificent chronograph works.

A walk in the park...

A walk in the park...a photography teaching session for my buddy...yielded some of these photographs.

She shot some 100 photographs, I took a total of 11 frames

A leaf with incredible detailed textures on the surface.

A flower

Another flower

yet another flower

Bamboo

Rudis Sylva Harmonious Oscillator RS-10

I was introduced to this small independent brand...Rudis Sylva some years ago by none other than the Grand Master of Watchmaking Philippe Dufour...during BaselWorld, he caught hold of me, and introduced me to Jacky Epitaux - the prime motivator behind the brand.

Please note the two watches photographed here are display units used for all demonstration purposes, and I did not have time to properly clean the watches before photography. The shots done with the Hasselblad H3D-39 show the effects of this wear and tear clearer than the shots taken with the GH-2. Tribute to higher resolution of the digital back and superior lens of the Hasselblad.

Jacky and team are totally committed to traditional watchmaking techniques, the watch now in its second generation, is called the Harmonious Generator...using a unique way of carrying two coupled balance wheels driven by a single escapement.

But it is not only this innovative method to balance out gravitational forces on a balance which makes this watch interesting, but also the finishing and attention to detail.

Each traditional artform in the construction of movements - bevelling, guilloche, engraving, enamelling are performed by cottage industry specialists, and executed to near perfection.

The finish is quite impeccable. Beautiful and breathtaking. The watch is rather large 44mm diameter, and some 15mm height of the case.

New Lange Boutique opens in Singapore

A. Lange & Sohne opens boutique in Singapore.

Soft opening, with the boutique open for business and showing. The official opening is currently scheduled for February 28, 2013. Singapore Lange fans can expect some celebration and exhibitions during the first week of March to mark the official opening.

Here is a glimpse of the new boutique at Ion Orchard.

Within, the Lange boutique DNA is apparent...

A closer look at one of the corners

And a semi-private room within the main entrance hall

Photograph was taken just before Christmas 2012, hence the Christmas tree.

And special for the boutique, the Honey Gold Tribute to FA Lange set, comprising of the 1815 Moonphase, the Pour le Merite Tourbograph and the Lange 1 Tourbillon in honey gold. Set numbered 1.

Photographically speaking this is a challenging interior to shoot. The mix of lighting modes created spots with different colour temperatures. And the high intensity lamps used for lighting the display cause havoc to the dynamic range of the photograph. I decided to let the window displays washout, as the rest of the interiors were more critical. In a print, the window display can be saved to show some detail, as print media has a larger dynamic range and lattitude than the web.

Premises of A. Lange & Sohne in Glashutte, and a Dresden Neustadt panorama

Not a true photography post today...but some assorted photographs on the A. Lange & Sohne premises in Glashutte, and an unusual panorama of Dresden.

I have been welcomed at the Lange premises many, many times over the last 16 or so years. This place is more or less a second home...here are some snapshots one rather chilly December morning

The Lange 2 building, which houses the main reception, and showroom

View of the side of the building...when I first started coming to Glashutte, this was one of the main factory buildings...the original Lange 1 building is just across the courtyard and still houses the manufacturing facilities.

Inside the reception area, a short walk up the stairs to the showroom

That's the lovely Kirsten Meusinger from the PR department, standing over the portrait of F.A. Lange made up of thousands of little photographs of events over the years...I am in a few of them too...

And the main showroom...with silhouttes of some colleagues

And a view of Dresden, some 30km away...the nearest major city...a view of the Neustadt. The Dresden skyline is made famous by Canaletto. But this is the view of the new city...actually not so new...it was roughly 1732 when it was founded...

Lange 1 Lumen: The high resolution photograph series

More first person photographs, this time in high resolution, and in better lighting to show the magnificent Lange 1 Lumen.

Again, I won't repeat the technical specifications or show you press photographs. Here you will find my photography at work. A mix of photographs from the Hasselblad H3D-39 with 120mm macro and Panasonic Lumix GH-2 with Panasonic-Leica 45mm macro.

First a comparison between the regular Grande Lange 1 and the new Grande Lange 1 Lumen

And the back.

I offer two explainations why the colour differences between the two movements...first is the way the light fell on the movement, and second, the left movement is the earlier Grande Lange 1, probably made in 2011, and the right is the newest Grande Lange 1 Lumen, fresh from the oven. Untreated German silver has a tendency to age to a beautiful golden patina over time.

And some high resolution photographs. These can be made available for licensing or be made into prints up to 600mm on the short side, suitable for framing and display.

Please contact me for details. Also click on the photographs for larger 1920pixel wide wallpapers.

I find the dial, with the peek-a-boo dark glass to be quite mesmerising...raising the stakes of an already very beautiful watch into the strastophere...magnificent timepiece.

It is interesting also that the sapphire glass dial catches light from different angles and turn out to be a beautiful steely blue or just a deep dark grey. Both quite beautiful.

The customary wrist shot...this time on my wrist...which for reference is approximately 7.5 inches in circumference.

The superluminova glowing in the dark

Urwerk UR210: black or white?

Presenting the latest Urwerk...the UR210.

Last week, I wrote about how cool Urwerk watches were, and featured the progression of cool from the early years to the UR210. Today's post will provide some additional high resolution photographs of the UR201.

I find the visual impact of the watch to be quite amazing. It looks like a mechanical sclupture which looks macho aggressive with the exposed machine parts, and at the same time elegant.

Twins?

A closer look at the UR210 in stainless steel case. Note the activity indicator at 10 o'clock. This tells the wearer how active he has been in the last 2 hours....interesting new feedback to the wearer from a watch.

And black anodized...they look like different watches. I prefer the black case...which one do you prefer?

The attention to detail and finishing is outstanding...see the following closeup, click on the image for a large 1920 wide wallpaper.

And on the wrist

And looks even better on the wrist of a lovely lady

The Lange Arkade...fit for a queen

The Lange Arkade is an underated watch. The movement is beautiful...magnificent even. The case unique, the outsized date was an outrage when it was first introduced in 1994.

In many sense, this is an outstanding watch...with one small print...it is a ladies timepiece. The ladies watch market, sadly, is dominated with quartz watches, which feature more for design and the jewellery it carries than for the movement.

Though, since the Arkade hit the market, many other manufacturers also began offering ladies watches which have great movements within. Amongst them, Girard Perregaux, Glashutte Originale, Jaeger LeCoultre, and even Patek Philippe.

The movement is without question to me, simply the best to be encased in a ladies watch

Lange even toyed with the idea of using the magnificent movement in a larger case...called the Grande Arkade targetted at the gentlemen...but found that the discerning customers who are looking at Lange as a potential purchase loathe a small movement in a large case syndrome...observe the ladies Arkade...the movement occupies almost the entire case...as seen here

Note this is the personal watch of my wife's...and is well worn and loved. I intentionally photographed it as is, without additional cleaning to show how the watch wears the patina and daily knocks. Considering this specimen is almost 10 years old, and worn frequently, it is in rather good condition.