Auctions: Sotheby's Is Putting Some Of A. Lange & Söhne’s Rarest New Creations On The Auction Block

Last month, my colleague Mark highlighted quite a few absolutely insane historical pieces within a subset of Sotheby’s upcoming U.S. winter auctions, part of the ‘Olmsted Complications Collection.’ But for me, a different section of the auction catalog caught my eye—a whole bunch of modern limited editions from A. Lange & Söhne, all essentially epic grails in their respective rights. I’ll never know how Sotheby’s managed to coax these watches out, but some of these models are making their first-ever appearance at auction. I’ll be curious to see what the market realizes for many of these watches, which are still fresh from their debuts. As our very own Ben Clymer learned in his 2023 interview with Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid, the German brand pays attention to the secondary market, both regarding performance but also in figuring out who may have parted with these limited releases.

The star of the show, in my humble opinion, is the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon ‘Lumen’ Honeygold Reference 740.055FE. This was the jaw-dropper novelty at last year’s Watches and Wonders, in celebration of 25 years of the Datograph and 30 years of the brand’s rebirth. The release combined many of the brand’s greatest hits into one single watch—the proprietary Honeygold alloy, the absolute monster of the L952.4 caliber, and, of course, the iconic Lumen treatment in its multi-layered sapphire and luminescent construction. However, as epic as the list is, it might have been one of the brand’s most controversial releases due to the price: an eye-watering $620,000, which firmly placed the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon ‘Lumen’ as Lange’s most expensive serially produced watch to date.

Continuing the Honeygold theme, a trio of lots highlights the pieces from the 2020 “175 Years – Homage to F.A. Lange” anniversary set. The simplest of the three—and a personal favorite—is the 1815 Thin Honeygold, limited to 175 pieces. The only reference of the 38mm 1815 Thin, it takes the slim two-hand caliber typically found in the Saxonia Thin and enriches it with the 1815 collection’s signature Arabic numerals and railroad minute track, all rendered on a two-part white grand feu enamel dial. In contrast, the 1815 Rattrapante in Honeygold combines a dark dial, warm lettering, and Lange’s first pure rattrapante caliber, making it a singular piece in the brand’s lineup even today, despite a later platinum iteration.

Last but certainly not least in this trio is the Tourbograph Perpetual ‘Pour Le Mérite,’ in a run of 50 pieces. One of Lange’s most complex watches, the Tourbograph Perpetual packs numerous complications into its 43mm Honeygold case: a fusée-and-chain mechanism, tourbillon, rattrapante chronograph, moonphase, and a perpetual calendar. Although the Tourbograph Perpetual was first released in 2017, this version goes full Honeygold with a dial crafted out of the material and then finished in a black rhodium treatment.

If the Tourbograph might be the most complicated yet least hyped in this entire collection of lots, the Odysseus in full titanium might be its antithesis. Released in 2022, Lange took its initially controversial steel sports watch design and gave it an ultra-modern, media-blasted finish for the first titanium-cased watch in the brand’s history. All of a sudden, Lange’s version of the integrated sports watch felt more contemporary, more sporty, and even more desirable, especially for those who had previously overlooked the brand. Perhaps polarizing to those who commonly associate the feel of a Lange with the reassuring heft of a precious metal, it’s certainly been an incredibly rare watch with few ever seen on the secondary market.

Finally, the most recent release of the bunch comes in the form of last fall’s 30th anniversary of the Lange 1. The onyx dial was available in both the Lange 1 and the Little Lange 1 cases in platinum. However, an off-catalogue set of both, featuring matching baguette diamond-set bezels, was offered exclusively to VIP clients as the Reference 181.862G Little Lange 1 & Reference 191.862G Lange 1 ‘Secret Set’.

With all of these heavy hitters coming out in one auction, and many of them like the Tourbograph, Datograph Perpetual ‘Lumen,’ and the secret Lange 1 set coming to market for the very first time, it’ll be a defining moment for Lange’s secondary market performance. Collectors have always loved Lange for the craftsmanship behind every one of the approximately five thousand watches that come out of its doors each year. Still, a sore point remains that its standard catalog trades substantially below retail on the secondary market, from Lange 1s to Datographs. Those few exceptions lie in the world of its limited editions, especially when it comes to the Lumen and Handwerkskunst series, and generally, most things that come in Honeygold.

Having some of these unobtanium models come up for auction is no small feat for Sotheby’s — and it raises an intriguing question: who is parting with such heavyweight pieces so soon after acquiring them? If we look at the ‘Secret Set’ of the Onyx-dialed Lange 1 and Little Lange 1, the papers date it to April 18, 2025, meaning that the previous owner has only had it for a hair under 7 months (realistically less, considering the consignment process for these watches).  I will certainly be paying attention to that Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon. Many of us will remember balking at the retail price when it was revealed at Watches and Wonders last year, only to be humbled when told that all of them had been allocated during the show. Now that one of the 50 owners is ready to part with one of Lange’s most high-end and limited modern offerings, all eyes will be on how this lot will perform.

For more information on the upcoming Sotheby’s Watch Department auctions, visit the company’s website.