A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date – the digital watch with no battery

Nick Kenyon

When you think digital watch, the first thing that comes to mind might be a Casio, with a clear digital display, a couple of functions and a light. You don’t think mechanical watch, and you certainly don’t imagine a watch that has its place in the upper echelons of haute horology. But this is exactly what you get with the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date, a watch with a clear digital display, and now with an additional function.

First released in 2009, the Zeitwerk was a new way to communicate time with a mechanical wristwatch, employing a pair of windows that respectively showed the hours and minutes, read from left to right as you would with any digital display.

In an expression of Teutonic symmetry, the running seconds and power reserve are displayed at 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively, giving the unusual dial layout a wonderful symmetry and sense of precision (a broader precision discussed at length here).

A decade later, the Zeitwerk gets more complex, now with a date function. While this may seem a relatively trivial addition, the layout of the dial meant adding a date window would disrupt the design, wherever it was placed. The design team overcame this problem by displaying the date on a track around the circumference of the dial, with the correct date shown in red.

This additional complication required the development of a new movement, the manually wound L043.8, which is housed in a 44.2mm white gold case. The 516 parts of this movement are all hand assembled and finished to a standard that is equal parts ornate and precise, hallmarks of the German brand.

Featuring a 3-day power reserve, this watch, which places clarity at front of mind, now has even greater practicality, with an instantly readable date. Arriving on an alligator leather strap, the Zeitwerk Date continues to develop its function, without the expense of form.

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date price

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date, AUD $145,625