When the A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Pour Le Mérite Replica Watch is being wound, the chain unreels from the outer wall of the barrel and wraps around the fusée until – if we stick with our metaphor – it arrives at the summit of the mountain. In this state, the radius of the fusée, i.e. the magnitude of its leverage, is small but the torque delivered by the mainspring is large. As the mainspring gradually unwinds, its power diminishes. But as the chain unreels from the fusée and back onto the barrel, the length of its lever – the effective radius of the fusée – increases by the exact same measure as the spring’s torque decreases. The result is constant torque at the fusée’s arbor and therefore constant amplitude of the balance.
Thus, the second a lange sohne richard lange replica also focuses the attention of its owner on the objective of all horological ambitions: the greatest possible degree of precision. It relies on an ingenious construction, a drive based on the chain-and-fusée principle used as early as the 15th century among others by Leonardo da Vinci.
All components of the complex manually wound movement are crafted to the highest Lange quality standards and lavishly decorated. In addition to the balance cock, the separate escape-wheel and fourth-wheel cock are engraved by hand as well. Lange’s master watchmakers also apply lavish decorations on parts of the movement that are not visible. Indeed, the RICHARD LANGE “Pour le Mérite” is not only a technically sophisticated precision timekeeping instrument, it is also a stunningly exquisite horological work of art.
In his standard reference book “Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World”, G.H. Baillie characterised it as follows: “Perhaps no problem in mechanics has ever been solved so simply and so perfectly”. However, it takes the ultimate in know-how and dexterity to craft this intricate mechanism in a size that can be accommodated by a wristwatch, so understandably, it is much rarer today than the tourbillon. At the same time, it is much more effective in a wristwatch because it overcomes the greatest disadvantage of the winding train – the unavoidable loss of torque – by intelligently harnessing the principle of levers.
The fusée-and-chain transmission compensates for the declining spring force, keeping the effective torque constant across the entire power-reserve period. For this purpose, the drive function, usually handled by the mainspring barrel alone, is taken over by two components: the mainspring barrel and the adjacent tapered fusée. The two components are connected by a dainty chain which in the case of the RICHARD LANGE “Pour le Mérite” consists of 636 individual parts. At one end, it is attached to the broad lower end of the fusée and at the other to the exterior of the spring barrel. A slot is milled into the conical surface of the fusée that leads to the narrowest point, much like a spiral path that leads to the summit of a mountain.
The a lange sohne replica watches exclusive calibre L044.1 movement is powered by an indexless escapement that beats with 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour and has a power reserve of 36 hours when fully wound. It incorporates a hairspring made in-house, precisely adapted to the oscillation system and the parameters of the movement. In turn, the moment of inertia of the large balance wheel with its 18 inertia and 4 poising screws, all made of solid gold, corresponds exactly to the torque delivered by the fusée.