Datograph Perpetual Calendar

We'll just come right out and say it: The A. Lange & Söhne Datograph might just be the most important watch of the modern era.

With its combination of avant-garde and teutonic design languages, mind-blowing mechanical architecture, function-heavy use, and luxury materials, the Datograph has not only won the hearts and minds of collectors and enthusiasts the world over, it created and set the bar for modern high-horology. And it came from Germany, not Switzerland.

We are yet to meet a horological virtuoso who doesn't consider the Datograph to be anything other than a triumph of design and mechanical engineering. Indeed, even the maestro himself — Philippe Dufour — can regularly be spotted wearing his rose gold example from the first series!

From its hefty wrist presence to the depth and intricacy of its 'miniature city-like' movement, the snap of its flyback chronograph mechanism and the ever-rewarding outsize date function, the Datograph is a triumph, pure and simple.

This particular example dating to circa the 2010s takes the standard Datograph to a new level by adding a perpetual calendar complication to the ALS Calibre L951.1, yielding the hand-cranking Calibre L952.1 perpetual