The transition from the 18th to the 19th century was characterised by the emergence of a new perspective of the world. For the first time, famous natural scientists such as Alexander von Humboldt systematically recorded the structure of the planet as well as of its plants and animals. Master watchmakers such as Johann Heinrich Seyffert of Dresden built the precision instruments needed for the expeditions. He is also the maker of the observation pocket watch that inspired the unusual dial of the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON "Pour le Mérite".
SUPERBLY ORGANISED – THE REGULATOR DIAL.
It was often an advantage in scientific observations of that era to separately display the hours, minutes, and seconds; the intention was to preclude the displays from being confused especially in low light conditions. However, the so-called regulator dial customarily had a sweep minute hand; subsidiary dials were only used for the hours and seconds. The three overlapping dials of the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON "Pour le Mérite present the time in a highly organised manner and give the watch a very distinctive face. Its particular allure lies in the fact that the aperture through which the tourbillon can be admired is located in the subsidiary seconds dial.
UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW OF THE TOURBILLON FROM TWELVE TO SIX.
To reveal as much of the amazingly filigreed tourbillon as possible, the hour dial segment from eight to ten o'clock was omitted. Punctually at 6 am and 6 pm, a specially developed pivoting dial segment snaps forward to close the gap with the numerals VIII to X, and precisely at noon and midnight, it retracts again to expose the tourbillon. This assures an unambiguous reading of time in the periods from 6 am to noon and from 6 pm to midnight.
