Glashutte Original vs. A. Lange & Sohne

How Do You Choose Between Two Great Watches?

The Watch Snob is in.



How Do You Choose Between Glashütte And A. Lange?

While ordinarily this should be an easy question to answer, I congratulate you for presenting a true horological conundrum. My love for all things Lange is by now well known. Though the Cabaret is admittedly not among the brand’s iconic pieces, it is still a very fine watch, with a dedicated rectangular movement bearing the usual Lange fine finishing. While I admire most of what Glashütte Original is doing (its cartoonish sports watches notwithstanding), I will almost always choose its neighbor from down die Strasse.

But if you’re truly buying a watch to wear and not just boast about, then the PanoMaticLunar is a fine choice in its own right. If you’re looking for an investment-grade heirloom, but one you may not enjoy wearing, then get the Lange. If you’re contemplating a trade of the Glashütte Original for the Lange, but are not keen on the latter, it may be a bad decision. Choosing between German haute horlogerie timepieces like these two is splitting hairs, and, in the end, they exist in the same plane of quality, so I recommend going with the one you will enjoy wearing.

To your larger rhetorical question about brand vs. style, it really should not be about either. Rather, when considering a fine timepiece, one should look at the merits of the watch itself — its innovations, build quality, level of decoration and finishing and pedigree. To an extent, even the last quality has less to do with a brand’s history as the lineage or tradition it follows, which is why a Kari Voutilainen trumps even a Breguet . As for style, it is fleeting, while classic design lives on. Choose wisely.

Is Cartier Headed In The Right Direction?

It truly warms the cockles of the Snob’s heart to see where Cartier is headed. The brand, which fills more than 50% of Richemont’s coffers, hasn’t rested on its fat laurels but has been gradually releasing one fine timepiece after another. The Calibre de Cartier line, while a bit brutish aesthetically, was a solid step in the right direction. The Rotonde de Cartier Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon is a giant leap. Putting the brand’s haute horlogerie movement design in the hands of a woman, Carole Forestier, was a move other watch brands might want to emulate. The watch is nothing less than a masterpiece. The release of the new Tank Anglaise at this year’s SIHH also shows that, while looking forward with its movements, Cartier still respects its classic designs. Revisit my position on Cartier? I’ll do more than that. I’ll revisit the Cartier boutique.

Question from a Watch Knob

A jeweler from whom I already bought a Glashütte Original (18K gold, PanoMaticLunar) has a brand-new A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret for 50% off. I am not so keen on the watch, as much as the opportunity to pick up a great brand. So what should take precedent: the brand or the style?I wanted to ask if you'd revisit your position on Cartier. Do you think that it has earned a place in the haute horology echelon, or is it still just a jeweler with good aesthetic sense? Would the Snob ever consider donning the Rotonde de Cartier Flying Tourbillon?I’m wondering how people appreciate a movement when they can’t even see it.

Watchmaking is about craftsmanship, whether visible or not, and a finely made watch would be discernible to a blind man in a dark room, merely by engaging the other senses — the tactile bliss of winding, the steady tick of the balance wheel and the smell of a handmade leather strap. Merely knowing the merits of a movement — its power reserve, a stop seconds complication, for example — are enough to please the mature aficionado. Perhaps the epitome of horological discretion and taste would be a tourbillon that is neither visible from the dial side nor through a case back. I’m not a religious man, but that may just be the closest one could get to pure faith.