A. Lange & Söhne

The best is just good enough

The history of the A. Lange & Söhne watch manufactory is inextricably linked with the Saxon court in Dresden. Here, the best is just good enough. The ambitious environment and its patronage sustainably promote art and science in Saxony – and in the course of this also the development of watchmaking.

The young apprentice Ferdinand Adolph Lange also benefited from this at the beginning of the 19th century, when at the age of only 15 he was apprenticed to Johann Friedrich Gutkaes, a watchmaker known far beyond Saxony’s borders. After completing his apprenticeship and traveling through France, England and Switzerland, Ferdinand Adolph Lange returned to Saxony, where he put his accumulated knowledge to work in a manufactory in Glashütte.

A. Lange & Söhne have been pursuing the goal of building timepieces that belong to the pinnacle of international watchmaking for generations.
A. Lange & Söhne

Constant striving for perfection

The constant pursuit of perfection is what distinguishes Ferdinand Adolph Lange. He sets out with the claim to build the best watches in the world. And he indeed succeeds: it is not long before his efforts are internationally recognized and his pocket watches are presented as exquisite gifts by heads of state, among others. Timepieces from the house of A. Lange & Söhne achieve world fame. Since then, the art of fine watchmaking perfected by Ferdinand Adolph Lange has been passed down from generation to generation.

New start in the nineties

After the Second World War, the manufactory is forcibly nationalized and A. Lange & Söhne becomes a legend. But in 1990, Walter Lange, great-grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, seizes the opportunity to take up his family’s legacy, which was thought to have been lost, and reestablishes the A. Lange & Söhne brand. Exactly 145 years after Ferdinand Adolph Lange laid the foundation for German fine watchmaking, A. Lange & Söhne is now once again producing watches that are among the best in the world.