Walter Lange
THE FILM ABOUT WALTER LANGE (12 MB)

THE 4TH GENERATION OF THE LANGE WATCHMAKING DYNASTY.

The Lange family had mastered the eventful years after World War I with ample horological know-how and commercial flair. But the division of Germany and the expropriation of the manufactory in the wake of World War II resulted in a 40-year interruption of the A. Lange & Söhne success story. Only after the two German states were reunified was it possible for Walter Lange to rekindle the grand family tradition.

1945: Destruction

DESTRUCTION AND EXPROPRIATION OF THE FAMILY ENTERPRISE.

Walter Lange, the great-grandson of Ferdinand A. Lange, was born on 29 July 1924 and started training as a watchmaker just before World War II erupted. Like all young men, he was conscripted. Severely injured, he returned home and soon thereafter had to witness the destruction of his parents’ manufactory by an aerial bombing raid, followed by the expropriation of the family enterprise. He avoided compulsory labour in the uranium mines by fleeing to the West.

The border fell in autumn

RE-ESTABLISHEMENT OF THE MANUFACTORY BY WALTER LANGE.

Walter Lange never forgot his homeland. When the border between East and West Germany fell in the autumn of 1989, he immediately made his way to Glashütte. After the collapse of the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic, the people in his former hometown faced an uncertain future. This situation urged Walter Lange to give them a new prospect. On 7 December 1990, he founded the company a second time – 145 years to the day after his great-grandfather’s pioneering act.

the first Lange watches of the new era

THE FIRST LANGE WATCHES OF THE NEW ERA.

With a handful of employees, he immediately embarked on the development and manufacture of the first Lange watches of the new era. Only four years later, he was able to present the first collection of wristwatches: the LANGE 1, the SAXONIA, the TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite”, and the ARKADE. Thanks to the success of the new time-pieces, new jobs were soon created in Glashütte. Thus, the town gradually became the centre of German precision watchmaking once again.

WORKING AT LANGE
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