A. Lange & Söhne: the brand that was born twice. The first was in 1845, when Dresden watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded his own manufacture: the second was in 1990, when the company began its second era after a forced hiatus that began with the Second World War. Decisive for the relaunch was the intervention of Günter Blümlein, an engineer and marketing expert who died prematurely 20 years ago.
Together with Walter Lange, great-grandson of the founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange, Blümlein re-founded the brand A. Lange & Söhne and developed an integrated company, product and marketing concept that brought the Lange name back to the pinnacle of precision watchmaking. On 24 October 1994, at a press conference at Dresden Castle, the first four Lange wristwatches of the new era were presented and sold out within minutes. Among them was what was soon to become the company's most famous model: the Lange 1. Emblematic of the new face of the brand and the first wristwatch to be regularly produced, it introduced an innovative dial with off-centre hour and minute indications and the characteristic large double date window.
The company's new era had begun. But it was not only about new products, wristwatches instead of pocket watches and new people at the helm. Günter Blümlein explored new approaches in communication, proving to be an ingenious strategist as well, and realising the need to share his company's know-how and refined technique, he introduced tours of the manufacture by bringing together watch enthusiasts and insiders. In short, he built what we now, in the age of social media, call a community.
Today, only a few thousand wristwatches equipped with movements developed in-house and assembled and decorated by hand are produced each year at Lange (69 calibres have been produced since 1990).
