The A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 MoonPhase is such a distinctive watch that marks A Lange & Sohne’s (“ALS”) revival in the 1990s with its unique decentralised and asymmetrical dial design, and of course, the outsize date display. A piece I’ve always wanted to add to my collection, and I’ve very pleased to share that I’ve finally done so, adding the Lange 1 Moon Phase in white gold with dial in black to my collection.

Let’s start with the aesthetics. The dial is crated from solid silver with solid-gold appliques and hour markers with beautiful rhodium gold made hands. Unlike the Lange 1 range, the hour, minute and power-reserve hands as well as the hour and power-reserve markers are luminous.

The Lange 1 Moon Phase complication is such a stunning complement to the dial, where the moon can be seen particularly well at night. The moon moves in front of a bright-blue celestial disc without start during the day and in front of a dark-blue sky studded with 383 (yes you are seeing it right) stars at night. If this is not attention to detail, I don\’t know what is!

If I had just a minor complaint, the black dial version can make it a little less legible but ALS did quite a good job in creating a slight gradient in the time section to minimise this issue.

On to the technicals of this exquisite Lange 1 Moon Phase. The Calibre L121.3 boasts a 72 hour power reserve where it\’s just so much fun winding the piece and watching the power reserve charge up. It\’s amazing how ALS has been able to assemble 438 hand-finished parts within the 5.7mm thick case!

This moon phase actually tracks the lunar cycle with a 99.998 per cent accuracy which means that once correctly set, the display only has to be corrected by one day after 122.6 years, assuming the watch runs continuously. Quite an incredible feat in my opinion.

The pusher at 10 o’clock is used for date setting while there is a recessed pusher at 8 o’clock that is used to set the moon phase. The recessed pusher is activated using a stylus (provided with the watch).

I’ve already spoken about the day/night indicator where this function is powered by the movement and displayed via the moon phase sub-dial.

For me, other than how exquisitely made this A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 MoonPhase is, another perk of this watch is how the movement sounds – listening to this piece beat to a deep and metallic sound is just so therapeutic!

I picked this version of the Lange 1 Moon Phase over its rose gold brethren as I think it is a more versatile dress watch that allows me to wear it when dressed down. A dream come true for me to finally add this piece to my collection!!!