State Of Grace

A. Lange & Söhne’s Saxonia collection thrives on soft power

- Alvin Wong

If the Saxonia collection were an office colleague, he would be that long-serving staff who clocks in early, never calls in sick, meets all the KPIs, and keeps everything humming without fuss. But if you’ve been lucky to have laboured alongside such a co-worker, you’d also quickly realise that his unassuming work ethic can also work against him. Nobody really pays enough attention to that guy and oftentimes, he never gets the credit he deserves.

In an A. Lange & Söhne universe dominated by superstar collections, the Saxonia, especially its core collection, can fade into the background. And not without reason. The Saxonia watch is defined by its stripped-down aesthetics; a purity of form that exemplifies the gentleman’s dress watch at its coolest and most austere.

Features-wise, one’d recognise its classic round case, minimalist and almost always symmetrically perfect dial, and thin and elegant dauphine hands and baton hour markers. The design is deliberately judicious, so that the watch’s other features can shine. Even then, these ‘other features’ are themselves often very restrained –ultra-thin profiles, special dial coatings, unerringly legible calendar displays.

“Each member of the Lange family has a part to play,“ says director of manufacturing, Tino Bobe, “and the Saxonia’s role is to be a symbol of the brand’s German pedigree.”