Lange & Söhne: Zeitwerk Date
Let’s get one thing straight, right from the start … the Zeitwerk is arguably one of the most beautiful modern digital jumping hour wristwatches – period.
The Zeitwerk Date comes in a 44.2-millimetre white-gold case, with a grey dial, and it is their ONLY watch entirely made by hand, with each piece built by ONE watchmaker, from start to finish.
For decades, watchmakers have been trying to make a mechanical digital watch … a wristwatch that displays hours and minutes with jumping numerals. For decades, there have been many failed or weak attempts. Then came A. Lange & Söhne, with the unveiling of their Zeitwerk in 2009. It is the first mechanical wristwatch that displays hours and minutes with jumping numerals. Within a fraction of a second, the unique mechanism advances the numeral discs, even simultaneously incrementing all three discs at the top of the hour. In the interest of optimized legibility, the hours and minutes are displayed in the same size on the same axis. It all happens so smoothly that it's easy to forget how difficult it is to pull this sort of thing off reliably and smoothly.
The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date has a new complication in the form of a glass ring date with printed numerals from 1 to 31 circling the dial, with the current date displayed in red. To deliver this design, a small red patch segment beneath the date ring performs one step exactly at midnight. So it moves around the dial one full revolution every month.
Read MoreThe Zeitwerk Date comes in a 44.2-millimetre white-gold case, with a grey dial, and it is their ONLY watch entirely made by hand, with each piece built by ONE watchmaker, from start to finish.
For decades, watchmakers have been trying to make a mechanical digital watch … a wristwatch that displays hours and minutes with jumping numerals. For decades, there have been many failed or weak attempts. Then came A. Lange & Söhne, with the unveiling of their Zeitwerk in 2009. It is the first mechanical wristwatch that displays hours and minutes with jumping numerals. Within a fraction of a second, the unique mechanism advances the numeral discs, even simultaneously incrementing all three discs at the top of the hour. In the interest of optimized legibility, the hours and minutes are displayed in the same size on the same axis. It all happens so smoothly that it's easy to forget how difficult it is to pull this sort of thing off reliably and smoothly.
The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date has a new complication in the form of a glass ring date with printed numerals from 1 to 31 circling the dial, with the current date displayed in red. To deliver this design, a small red patch segment beneath the date ring performs one step exactly at midnight. So it moves around the dial one full revolution every month.
