A. Lange & Sohne made truly exceptional pocketwatches way back in the day. They now make truly exceptional wristwatches – in between they made very little. That’s because they were enveloped by the German government to produce inexpensive timepieces for both military and consumer use during the war, under the moniker “GUB” or "Glashutte Uhrenbetriebe". The GUB absorbed all Glashutte-based watchmakers and quickly transformed top tier manufactures into simple watch factories churning out very basic timepieces. Before they could make the exceptional the unexceptional, a movement called the Lange 28 made its way into production. The Lange 28 was the only wristwatch caliber ever designed and built by Lange prior to 1994. It was based on a pocketwatch caliber and given the “Q1” mark, indicating the finest quality Lange could manufacture. These watches are quite rare and the value is often diluted because most of them have “GUB” signatures on the dial and movement instead of Lange's own signatures. It is only the few true watch nerds that know when they see “Q1” on the dial and the number 28 on the caliber that they aren’t looking at some mass-produced product of cold-war Germany, but rather a solitary relic of the original Lange and pre-cursor to the magnificent brand we know today. We should note that you must be careful when cruising for these watches because GUB signed watches without a Lange 28 in them are a dime a dozen, and worth about as much as your dirty tube sock, AND, while Lange did make wristwatches before the war, they, in most cases, used movements from a host of suppliers. So, even if the dial reads “Lange” or “Lange VEB” that is no proof there is a Lange 28 inside. Tricky, we admit, but to own something of this quality and importance in a price range around $2,000-$3,500, you’re going to have to work for it.