[5][6] The original A. Lange & Söhne was nationalized and ceased to exist in 1948, following the occupation by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Ferdinand Adolph Lange's master was Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes (the maker of the famous Five-Minute Clock at Dresden's Semperoper), who at the time was second mechanic at the Mathematics and Physics Salon providing an astronomical clock with a mercury compensation pendulum for his service observatory.

In Paris, he spent four years working as workshop manager of Austrian watchmaker Joseph Thaddäus Winnerl (inventor of the split-seconds chronograph).

[19] The lectures given by the physician and director of the Paris Observatory Dominique François Arago extended his knowledge of astronomy.

[21] Lange wasted no time in building complicated watches to put into practice what he learnt through his journey years, which all noted in his notebook.

His main ambition was the industrialization of the area and become independent as he made verbal proposals in a letter he sent to the government minister Von Lindenau and councillor Weissenbach.

He asked a commission from the government to grant him a business licence in the less economically fortunate region, “Erzgebirge” (Ore Mountains) in Glashütte.

Mentions in the letter as follows: “…Should the high council be able and willing to grand the wherewithal for the establishment of an institution and the welfare of 10-15 young people, and to entrust me with its leadership, I am certain that in a near future, livelihood and prosperity will spread among a large number of these unfortunate people…” On 7 December 1845, he founded A. Lange & Cie, which later became A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.

[21] Lange founded not only a watchmaking factory that would bear his name; he also established his vision for an entire industry.

[23] As Ferdinand Adolph Lange travelled through France he saw French watchmakers still used duodecimal ligne as length unit instead of the new metric system.

Additionally, the citizens of Glashütte established the Lange Foundation, which provided pensions for local watchmakers.

The new building gave Lange senior the opportunity to realize his idea, a clock with a pendulum of almost 10 meters, the longest in the world.

Some of his notable patents include an up/down power reserve indicator (patent No.9349), improved chronometer restraints, pocket watch with minutes counter, and addition of beryllium to improve the rate characteristic of balance spring[25] Emil Lange was awarded the cross of the Knight of the French Legion of Honor for his services as a juror at the Paris world fair and the presentation of the “Jahrhunderttourbillon” (tourbillon of the century).

[26] Furthermore, Emil Lange was given the honorary title of “Kommerzienrat” (commercial councilor) by King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony for his success as businessman.

At the same time, Germany closed its borders to Swiss watches and movements forcing firms dependent on Switzerland out of production.

Walter Lange describes the situation as follows: “I was born in the Weimar era; then came the crash in 1929 and the great unemployment.

I can still see it today; it was a childhood trauma for me, when I looked out the living room window and saw all the unemployed men lined up, waiting across the street.

From the second half of the thirties to the end of World War II, A. Lange & Söhne was one of five watch manufacturers (the others being Stowa, Laco, Wempe and IWC) that built B-Uhren for Germany's air force (Luftwaffe).

[33] A. Lange & Söhne, as well as other Glashütte watchmakers, used slave labour to build chronometers, timers, and fuses.

[34] On 8 May 1945, the last day of the war, the Lange headquarter and main production building was almost completely destroyed in a Soviet air raid.

Watches from this period were signed “Lange VEB” (Volkseigener Betrieb - publicly owned enterprise).

When the seized watch companies were merged in 1951 to form VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe, the Lange name disappeared from the dials.

[2][1][36][37] It was re-established on the exact date 145 years after Walter's great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the original company.

[48] Recurrent design elements are the outsize date, inspired by the stage clock of Dresden's Semperoper, solid gold or platinum cases, the shape of the soldered lugs, the galvanized solid-silver dials and the customized typography based on the “Engravers” font from 1899.

A. Lange & Söhne applies same level of top hand-finishing on all their pieces from the basic Saxonia to Grand Complication.

For example, L043.1 (Zeitwerk) indicates that work on this particular Lange (L) movement started in 2004 (04), that it is the third project of that year (3) and that it is the first version of this caliber (.1).

[90] Additionally, a couple notable models of the Lange 1815 include the "1815 'Homage to Walter Lange,'" limited in production to just 263 time pieces, and the "1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar in Platinum," winner of the Grande Complication Prize and the Public Prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve.

The Zeitwerk range includes several watches with striking complications as well as a model featuring a ring-shaped date display.

[95] It is a family of watches that boasts a unique decentralized and asymmetrical dial design, as well as the outsize date display.