THE CENTRE OF GERMAN PRECISION WATCHMAKING. AND ITS PROTAGONISTS.
Glashütte is a quiet and secluded town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains. This is where Ferdinand A. Lange founded the first production facility for pocket watches in 1845, simultaneously laying the cornerstone for the German watchmaking industry.
Glashütte is also home to Walter Lange. After the reunification of Germany, he had the courage to follow in his great-grandfather’s footsteps – and established the manufactory, expropriated after World War II, a second time.
HISTORIC HEADQUARTERS.
Looking down from the slopes of the Ore Mountains into the valley in which Glashütte is nestled, anyone can easily discern the A. Lange & Söhne production complex in the centre of the town.
Shortly after Germany was reunified, it was difficult to find suitable facilities for the production of fine wristwatches, and the original Lange family domain was not available. Built in 1873 by Ferdinand A. Lange, it had served the Lange dynasty of watchmakers as a residence and manufactory until 1948.
THE NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITIES.
In 1990, Lange moved into the building that had accommodated the workshops of the former Strasser & Rohde precision pendulum clock factory. It was renamed “Lange I”. “Lange II”, the second building located in the immediate vicinity, was inaugurated in 1998. And finally, the community of Glashütte agreed to sell the original Lange head-
quarters to the family in 2000. Since then, Lange watches have been crafted in the same place where A. Lange & Söhne’s coveted pocket watches were once manufactured.
Lange’s first new building, the Technology and Development Centre, was completed on 22 October 2003. This is where the ideas for tomorrow’s Lange watches are born, evolved, and implemented.
