“When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Walter Lange was concerned with more than just reviving the A. Lange & Söhne name,” explained Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid. “He always viewed it as a major personal endeavour to provide a new outlook for the people of Glashütte. These two goals were equally important to him.” According to Wilhelm Schmid, continuing the legacy of Walter Lange remains both a challenge and a duty: “We are continuing Walter Lange’s work just as he intended, with a commitment to the well-being of the town and its people.”

The mayor of Glashütte, Markus Dressler, described Walter Lange as “a courageous watchmaking pioneer to whom Glashütte owes a great deal.” He added: “He deserves this memorial erected in recognition of his life’s work, a memorial that reminds us of his dedication to Glashütte.”

The ceremony was attended by guests from the world of politics, society, and business. The unveiling was described as “a very poignant moment” by Hartmut Knothe, who helped to build the company from the ground up as one of the first managing directors. The former Minister-President of Saxony, Kurt Biedenkopf, joined the son of the honoured, Benjamin Lange, in thanking the companies involved, as well as the people of Glashütte and the Free State of Saxony, without whose support this project would never have come to fruition.

Hamburg sculptor Thomas Jastram has succeeded in capturing the essence of Walter Lange, depicting him as a life-sized bronze figure that meets the onlooker at eye level. This ties in with the general perception of Walter Lange as a warm and approachable person, someone who never wanted to be put on a pedestal. By creating the impression of Lange’s likeness taking a step forward, the sculptor has encapsulated the dynamic personality of an individual who vowed never to stand still. The spatial exploration of the human form is a key theme in the work of Thomas Jastram, who studied at the Dresden University of Fine Arts.

The site of the memorial on the redesigned church square reflects the intimate connection between the Lange family and Glashütte. It stands just a few metres away from the commemorative stone for Walter Lange’s great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who brought precision watchmaking to Glashütte for the first time 175 years ago.

It started with the ZEITWERK STRIKING TIME. In 2011, it was the first Lange watch of the new era with a striking mechanism. Since then, two more watches have been added to the ZEITWERK family: the ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER in platinum (2015) and white gold (2020) and the ZEITWERK DECIMAL STRIKE, introduced in 2018. All three timepieces are equipped with a visible striking mechanism on the dial side. The sound concepts behind them differ in interesting details.

The ZEITWERK STRIKING TIME chimes on the hour and the quarter hours with two differently tuned individual tones – a deeper tone for the hours, a higher one for the quarter-hour intervals. The acoustic time indication of the ZEITWERK DECIMAL STRIKE works according to the same principle, although its striking mechanism chimes every ten minutes. The left-hand hammer strikes the low-tuned gong once on the hour. The right-hand hammer strikes every ten minutes, producing a higher tone at the start of a new ten-minute interval.

In the ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER, the wearer can set the watch as desired to chime on the hour, at ten-minute intervals and every minute at the touch of a button. The acoustic time indication corresponds to the digital display: a deep tone for each complete hour, a double tone at the end of the ten-minute intervals and a high tone for the remaining minutes. The time shown in the image, 7.52 a.m., would therefore be represented by seven deep tones, five double tones and two high tones.

The ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER is available in platinum and white gold. “Each individual timepiece has a unique sound,” says Anthony de Haas, who has been responsible for product development at A. Lange & Söhne since 2004. “The sound is affected by the gongs and the hammers. Material, shape, size, weight and manufacturing technique are defining factors in both cases. Regarding the hammers, the stroke is also crucial, just as with a piano. And the gongs must be carefully tuned by an experienced watchmaker, just like musical instruments.”

The greatest influence on the sound, however, is actually the case material, according to Anthony de Haas, as it is the resonating body. Platinum has a bright, clear and resonant sound. In comparison, white gold sounds fuller, warmer and silkier – altogether louder. “There is no better or worse. As a drummer, I like to compare the striking mechanism of the watch with a snare drum, where the body is usually made of steel, brass or wood. Depending on the material used, different timbres and moods are created. The choice of case material is therefore a matter of personal preference.”