A. Lange & Söhne and Patek Philippe are both luxury watch brands, generally classified as “haute horlogerie.” Both companies have a long history and a high level of vertical integration and watchmaking expertise. However, a closer look reveals that Patek Philippe and A. Lange & Söhne differ strikingly in many details. This article provides a brief overview of the similarities and differences between these two popular brands.
History
Patek Philippe dates back to the mid-19th century, when its namesakes, Antoine Nobert de Patek and Jean Adrien Philippe, founded Patek Philippe & Co. with the assistance of lawyer Vincent Gostkowski. Philippe, who had made a name for himself by patenting the winding crown, provided the watchmaking expertise. At the turn of the century, Patek Philippe became a joint-stock company, until the current owners, the Stern family, took over Patek Philippe some 30 years later during the global economic crisis. The company already had a business relationship at the time with the dial manufacturer Fabrique de Cadrans Stern Frères, and seized the opportunity when a buyer was sought for the company in the wake of the crash. Today, Thierry Stern is the fourth generation of owners to lead the company since the acquisition. This means that Patek Philippe is a fully independent, family-owned company that is also one of the top five watch brands in the world in terms of sales. The ownership structure of A. Lange und Söhne is much more complicated due to the aftermath of the Second World War, which means that the current company, Lange Uhren GmbH, was founded in 1990, although it actually dates back much further. It all began in the mid-19th century with the state-sponsored founding of A. Lange & Cie. by Ferdinand Adolph Lange. At the end of World War II, due to its location in the Soviet occupation zone, the company was nationalized along with several other companies under the GUB, or “Glashütte Uhrenbetriebe.” Members of the founding family fled to West Germany, where they worked professionally until the reunification of Germany cleared the way for a reboot. Walter Lange, the founder’s great-grandson, seized this opportunity in 1990.
Style & Collections
If you were to ask the Stern family about the style and core competencies of their collections, you’d probably get a different answer than you would from an outsider. Patek Philippe prides itself on its expertise in grand complications and the excellence of its craftsmanship, which the brand groups under the heading “Rare Handcrafts.” These include techniques like guillochage, engraving, enameling, and inlaying. Patek’s Calatrava collection is a series of models considered by many to be the epitome of the elegant dress watch. For some time now, the brand’s public image has been dominated by the hype surrounding the Nautilus collection, which, along with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, remains one of the most sought-after watches in the world, despite the recent market “crash.” Due to a lack of availability and the considerable prices that any version of the Nautilus commands on the secondary market, this hype has spread to other models such as the Aquanaut, a sportier version of the Nautilus.
Patek Philippe ceased production of the stainless steel Nautilus ref. 5711 in order to counter this trend towards a “single-model brand” and to increase exclusivity and price with the successor ref. 5811 in white gold. Along with the Nautilus, Aquanaut, and Calatrava, Patek Philippe also has other collections like the traditional Golden Ellipse series and the Twenty~4 line of ladies’ watches. Finally, the Grandes Complications collection gathers together highly complex timepieces that have broken many records. Recently, the manufacturer presented its first new collection in 25 years, the highly controversial Cubitus, which once again clearly plays on the popular theme of the sporty watch with integrated bracelet.
A. Lange & Söhne has six collections. One of the iconic models introduced at the company’s re-founding, the Lange 1 features eccentric dials, a power reserve indicator, and a patented outsized date.
The Saxonia, 1815, and Richard Lange collections offer a wide range of watches, from simple three-hand models to grand complications, with predominantly classic and sometimes decidedly conservative designs. Another Patek brand icon is the Datograph chronograph. The Zeitwerk collection, on the other hand, is futuristic and technical, and displays the time “digitally” with jumping dials, although the heart of the watch remains mechanical and analog. A minute repeater version of the Zeitwerk is also available. Finally, Lange could not resist introducing the Odysseus in 2023, a sporty timepiece with an integrated bracelet.
Craftsmanship & Quality
If you want to compare and contrast the quality and craftsmanship that goes into watches from Patek Philippe and A. Lange & Söhne, you have to take a very close look indeed. In this market segment, custom movements are a given; even the most narrow definition of “in-house caliber” or “manufacture movement” is a matter of course. It also goes without saying that there’s a lot of manual work involved in finishing components, not all of which are machined, and that quality control must be impeccable. So let’s take a closer look at the quality standards that these two manufacturers have set for themselves. A few years ago, Patek Philippe turned its back on the established “Hallmark of Geneva” and created its own quality standard, the Patek Philippe Seal, which its timepieces must meet. This was controversial – not least because of the lack of independence of the controlling body – but also understandable, since the Hallmark of Geneva only applies to movements and not to the entire watch, which is what Patek Philippe wanted to achieve with its own standard. At A. Lange & Söhne, the practice of twofold assembly, explicitly performed for each model, is particularly noteworthy. The term refers to the assembly of the entire movement in an unfinished state. Each caliber is built and adjusted to be ready for use, only to be disassembled again. The surfaces of the various components are then finished, and the movement is assembled for the second and final time. This, of course, represents an enormous amount of additional work, which is reflected in the price of the timepieces. But what do these quality standards mean in concrete terms? And can we say that Patek Philippe or A. Lange & Söhne watches are of “higher quality” than those of the competition? In some cases, such judgments are possible, but we can’t really apply these judgments to an entire brand catalog, from simple three-hand models to the Grandmaster Chime or Grand Complication, for example. Let’s test our comparison with representative models such as the Lange 1 Moon Phase and, for example, the Nautilus 5712 on a steel bracelet. Both have an MSRP of between $53,000 and $59,000. The movement of the 5712 comes from the company’s microrotor caliber 240 line and offers a date hand, moon phase display, and power reserve indicator. The base caliber dates back to 1977, but its modern descendants incorporate innovations like Patek’s Spiromax silicon hairspring and a free-sprung balance with mass screws. Of course, the plates are beveled and have a Côtes de Genève finish.
Lange deliberately does not use silicon, as such components cannot be easily modified or produced by watchmakers and do not fit in with the brand’s philosophy. Lange objectively goes one step further than Patek models in comparable price categories when it comes to the surface finish of its movements. The classic Glashütte three-quarter plate features a hand-engraved balance cock and screwed chatons for the jewels. It’s not surprising that A. Lange & Söhne is ahead of Patek Philippe in terms of finishing, at least when it comes to both brands’ “volume models.” Some authors have already attempted rough studies to determine the number of watchmaking hours that go into an average watch from a manufacturer, based on public information and statements from the brands. It’s clear that a typical Lange watch requires many more hours of manual labor than one from Patek Philippe. One should keep in mind that Patek Philippe produces over 60,000 watches per year with about 1,600 employees, while Lange produces roughly 6,000 watches with just over 800 employees. That production at Patek Philippe is more industrialized than at Lange is no secret.
However, since both manufacturers’ catalogs cover several orders of magnitude in terms of price and thus also in terms of workmanship and complexity, any general verdict on our part would leave plenty of room for doubt. This isolated look at two “typical” models is merely intended to illustrate a trend that is representative of many of the two brands’ timepieces.
Value & Desirability
Following the hype surrounding the Nautilus, it’s safe to say that Patek Philippe is one of the watch world’s most sought-after brands. If you can get an in-demand model from an authorized dealer (not very likely), you don’t need to ask about value retention but rather about how much the value of the watch will increase over time. The prices on platforms like Chrono24 bear witness to this. Even models from Patek’s controversial Cubitus collection are already fetching prices well above their original MSRP. Not surprisingly, demand for the stainless steel Odysseus has been strong at Lange. However, a look at third-party statistics indicate that people who are primarily interested in watches as an investment will find a much wider selection at Patek Philippe. Of course, for both brands, it isn’t possible to purchase the most sought-after models from an authorized dealer without a previous purchase history with that dealer, or only with a very long wait. Speaking of wait times, you can expect the same from both brands when it comes to service.
Conclusion
It is almost impossible to judge which of these two brands is “better,” as such a judgment is in fact irrelevant. Ultimately, there are many soft factors that – along with the hard facts – determine whether a watch fan becomes an A. Lange & Söhne or Patek Philippe devotee. Perhaps this comparison gave you a better idea of where you stand.
