This was an unplanned purchase. The A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia is not the kind of watch that one should buy on a whim. Sure, we have all spent a couple of hundred dollars on an ill-advised eBay find we didn’t need in the middle of the night, but this was a whole other level of crazy. I was burning some time visiting the watch boutiques on Madison Avenue – JLC, Panerai, Chopard, FP Journe, and A. Lange & Sohne, what a stretch all within 5 blocks – with no intention of buying. Then a phone call with good news about the perfect watch from a terrific boutique manager, and, well, here we are.

What is so great about the watch? Well, it is pretty much simple perfection. Just my size, a hair under 36mm, but with some real heft given its white gold case. The finishing, as you’d expect from Lange, is next level. You certainly see this in the movement but also on the beautiful dial and on those glittery white gold hour markers. What makes the purchase somewhat crazy? Well, it is a lot to spend on a two-handed watch with seconds on a subdial that most people would find too small.

However, I have no intention of selling it. The A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia is one of those watches that I can just stare at during boring meetings and it works perfectly as a dress watch, an office watch or a watch to be worn with jeans and T-shirt – as long as I’m not actually doing much.