One of the Best Dress Chronos Evuh! A. Lange & Söhne Datograph

first off thanks to the owner of this fine timepiece for loaning it to me for this photoshoot. I almost swapped it with another chrono timepiece when I had to return it to him hoping he might not realise it but as the pics in this post show... it's quite hard to mistake this watch for any other watch, especially when you turn it over and...

BAM!

I have had opportunities to own this fine watch before(as in the finances allowed for it then) but chose others over it. The main reason then was my love for those other timepieces. The reason I have now for not having it in my watchbox is that I just don't wear dress watches much(or at all really ~ once or twice a year) nor believe I will have much occasion to in future. I typically wear a shirt and pants to the office and its office wear but not tie and cufflinks gear. the other concern is scary Lange servicing costs. the story of a dude servicing his Lange 1 for S$4.1k which is the price of a Tudor doesn't help at all. for a vertical column chrono with it's killa movement like the Dato, I don't even want to think which Rolex it will cost me ;)

mamma mia!

So a Dato 403.035 does not look to be in my watchbox but I do think it's a phenomenal dress chrono. it is a beautiful beautiful timepiece. use all necessary superlatives to describe the movement and it's got a cool face too. my fave versions are the pink gold black dial(warmer) and the plat black dial(frostier) versions. so it's been reviewed to death over it's many years(released in 1999), and there is a new up/down, and lesser version impo, of it out. folks with $ and chance to own one can decide for themselves but the older version is lovelier and a masterpiece ;)

a few closeups

One thing to note is Lange secondary market prices aren't the best in general. also there are many old dato pieces out there floating around from 1999 to 2013 so you might get up to 14 year old piece on the market for sale. The older pieces eg >5 years should be going for S$50-55k(or less) depending on age, condition etc. If they have been serviced recently the price can be on the higher side but proper documentation of it needs to be there. Eg there is a plat dato selling for US$42k on chrono24 as I type. The list before this model was discontinued was above S$90k, not sure if it went above a S$100k but won't be surprised if it did.

 

sigh... ok maybe I do need an expensive dress chrono in my watchbox...

whatever the case, anyone who owns this watch has a great timepiece in their possession and in my opinion, one of the best dress chronos ever... hmm I need to pay a visit to the Lange boutique methinks ;) have a good week ahead folks! cheers, raph