15 December 2014
The graphic design of the dial is that of a regulator, a device of great accuracy that was used in the past as a reference to set the time for other clocks and watches: in fact it displays the minutes in the counter at 12 o’clock, the hours at 4 and the seconds at 8. In reality, however, the Richard Lange Perpetual Calendar “Terraluna” (this is its full name) made by A. Lange & Söhne is an ultra-complicated watch: the hand-wound mechanical movement, made “in house,” shows the date (or rather, the large calendar typical of the manufacturer), the day of the week, the month and the leap year in separate windows, and is able to tell by itself the different length of the months, 30 or 31 days—and even that of February, 28 or 29 days. In addition, it has a power reserve of 14 days, indicated in the curved window at 6 o’clock. And above all, it displays the orbital moon-phase on the caseback: i.e. the exact position of the moon as it rotates around the earth, in relation to the sun, represented by the balance wheel, by day and by night. A function so precise that it will only need manual adjustment in 1058 years (according to the patent application). Extremely elegant, with a 45.5 mm diameter case in white or pink gold, the watch is only for a few: it costs 189,700 euros.
