Photo Report: A. Lange & Söhne Brings A Glimpse Of History to New York City
I'm not the biggest birthday person. I largely subscribe to Patton Oswalt's take that, once you're past about 21, if your oncoming age doesn't end in a '0' (or maybe a '5,' but even that's a stretch), you can largely skip the celebrations and fuss. That said, I'm always willing to make an exception, and when I learned that A. Lange & Söhne — truly and unreservedly one of my favorite watch brands of all time — was coming to New York City to celebrate its birthday weekend this year, I was excited. Walter Lange, Günther Blümlein, and Hartmut Knothe at the 1994 launch of the Lange 1, Saxonia, Arkade, and Tourbillon "Pour le Mérite." Image, courtesy A. Lange & Söhne. It turns out my excitement was well rewarded: not only did the brand drop what may immediately be my favorite release of 2026, a new Datograph Perpetual, but they also put together a retrospective exhibit that would have thrilled any Lange fan. They even managed to track down the exact same Soviet-era stacking chairs. These few had to be shipped from Poland, but it was worth getting it right for the photo op. With a collection that featured everything from antique Lange pocket watches — produced before the company was subsumed by the German state in anticipation of the Second World War — to highly technical modern offerings from the brand, this display, which was hosted in the William Ziegler Mansion (better known today as the Academy Mansion), just a stone's throw from both Central Park and the A. Lan...
Time+Tide
