Taking the tourbillon to new heights, the Pour le Mérite was the first wristwatch to feature the most precious fusée-and-chain transmission, a refined constant-force mechanism that was developed together with Renaud & Papi at the time. Used to equalize the mainspring’s power, a fusée and chain was used on all 12 historic Lange tourbillon pocket watches produced since the founding of the brand in 1845. This complication optimizes the rate accuracy of the watch. The most famous of these twelve tourbillons, the reference 41000 “Jahrhundertourbillon” was exhibited at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. The Pour Le Mérite Tourbillon is a direct descendent of the 41000, both technically and aesthetically, with the same finely constructed tourbillon carriage.

Exceedingly rare and important, the present ref. 701.001 is numbered 15 of the 150 timepieces made in yellow gold. A complete work of art, the Tourbillon Pour le Mérite from circa 1995 of the earliest batch appears not to have aged at all in the intervening nearly three decades since its production. Featuring a gorgeous, symmetrical two register dial surrounded by elegant Arabic numerals and railway track, the arched signature draws your eye to the elegant tourbillon aperture at 6 o’clock. The diamond capped steel tourbillon bridge contrasts harmoniously with the gold tourbillon carriage. Proudly marked “Made in Germany” to represent fine Saxon watchmaking, the inscription is in a sans serif typeface that are only found on early models from the brand, latter designs were later changed to the serif font Engravers MT that is similar to the brand’s logo.

Coming from the collection of an important collector of the brand, the present number 15 of 150 Tourbillon Pour Le Mérite is accompanied by Peter Chong’s “A. Lange & Söhne: The Pour Le Mérite Collection” tome, in undisputedly excellent condition.