The beauty of A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia replica and Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 5196 resides in their simplicity. Absolutely nothing superfluous can be found on these gorgeously pure wristwatches. Both brands rank among the world’s finest manufactures. And each has roots that reach back to the 19th century. Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the original A. Lange & Söhne in the small town of Glashütte in the Kingdom of Saxony (in what is now eastern Germany) in 1845. Lange developed the three-quarters plate and built pocket watches famous for their high quality. They were universally acknowledged as the finest timepieces made in Germany. The company was disbanded in 1945, and only in 1990 was the A. Lange & Söhne name resurrected by a new company founded, like the first, in Glashütte. The company is now owned by the Richemont Group.
The Patek Philippe Calatrava replica and Saxonia are both 37 mm in diameter – an appropriate size for a dress watch in this era of ever-larger cases. Each is also just 8 mm thick, which means it can vanish unobtrusively beneath a well-tailored shirt cuff. Both watches appear even slimmer than they are thanks to the satin finishing on the case sides and domed sapphire crystal. With its narrow bezel and comparatively long lugs, the Calatrava looks even flatter than the Saxonia, which has a more highly domed and significantly broader bezel.
Patek Philippe, which was founded in 1839, is privately owned. This manufacture has created numerous spectacular timepieces in the course of its illustrious history, including the world’s most complicated pocket watches, which were built on commission from the banker Henry Graves. Patek Philippe was also among the first brands to produce wristwatches. The Calibre 89 pocket watch, which debuted in 1989, has 33 functions and remains the world’s most complicated portable timepiece (roughly the size of a grapefruit, it’s so large that the term “watch” seems like a misnomer). The two timepieces we tested are a far cry from the complicated creations for which both brands are famed. Each watch displays nothing but the time; each shows the passing seconds on an off-center subdial; and each has indices rather than numerals. The bare-essentials appearance of the dial reflects the simplicity of the movements. Neither has a self-winding mechanism. Both are therefore able to fit in very slim, elegant cases. Although the movements stick strictly to the basics, both are elaborately decorated by hand. The cases and other visible components are also of the highest quality. In a nutshell, they represent pure ticking luxury.
