Lange Datograph Flyback: Short Review

[panerai153]

A couple of weeks ago, while scrollling through the sales forum, I came across the Lange Datograph. The watch immediately struck my fancy, as it had a cream dial and very nice detailing. Considering that with around 20 watches, all with black dials, except for a couple of blue dials, my collection was definitely in need of a dressier watch with a light colored dial. Unfortunately, before I could make up my mind the watch sold. I was able to find one on a trusted dealers website, and sent off the money. It took about a week for delivery, which was a little faster than expected. Another thing, the watch came packed in a box, and inside wrapped in bubble wrap inside another Styrofoam box. Extremely well packed. Kudos to the dealer, as most of the new watches I have bought came with bubble wrap inside a soft mailing envelope.

Taking the watch out of the box, it was nice to see how well constructed it was. Certainly it’s not a 1:1 copy of the genuine, but these watches are so rare, it would be a tremendous coincidence if I ever saw another Lange, much less a Datograph. The newest model (model II) has a very discreet power reserve indicator at 6. The replica does not have this feature.

The Watch is powered by the Seagull manual wind chrono movement, which I know nothing at all about, but from a lot of the posts here, it’s a very rugged and reliable movement. Thus far the watch is running about 5-6 seconds fast per day (24 hours), which isn’t bad at all for a brand new movement. The watch is a “big Date” with the divided date window at 12. The chrono seconds hand on mine lines up exactly in the center of the date, covering the divider. The date has a quickset feature, operated by a pusher at 10. Very convenient for date setting especially with a manual wind watch. The movement is very well finished, and is visible through the sapphire glass caseback. Blued screws and decorated bridges make the movement look very good to the casual observer.The dial printing is very crisp, and all the words are spelled correctly!! Minute and hour hands are blued and are lumed, however the dial is not lumed. Sort of strange to me, but I suppose it allows you to get an approximation of the time in the dark. One point that is a distraction, the dial is very “busy” , lots of markers and numbers, which leads to a slight amount of difficulty in reading the exact time. That is the only drawback as far as the appearance of the watch.

The watch comes on a very nice matte brown Alligator grain strap with a Lange tang buckle. I have since changed mine to a lighter Tan genuine Alligator, however putting the two side by side, it’s hard to tell that one is not real gator. One small drawback, the buckle had some sharp edges which were uncomfortable when wearing the watch. This was corrected by removing the buckle and working the edges down with some fine sandpaper.

The watch size is about 42mm, which to me is a little on the large size for a dress watch, which I would consider this as. I really don’t know many folks who wear a 50-75k watch out mowing the lawn, playing golf or any strenuous activity. I would much prefer it if it were 40mm. It just looks like it should be smaller, at least in my opinion. The genuine is about the same size so it’s pretty accurate size wise.

The dealer claims 20 atm water resistance, but from past experience, considering that the watch doesn’t have a screw down crown and has three pushers, I wouldn’t count on any water resistance until proven otherwise i.e Pressure test.

All in all if you’re looking for something different and would like a nicely finished dressy watch on leather, and have all the black dial sport watches you could ever use, this may well fill the bill.

Photos:

[Arctos]

Looks nice!

Does the flyback function work? (Can you reset the chrono while it's running?) I would assume it doesn't, but you never know.

[dluddy]

Very cool. Love the big date. Thanks for the review and for sharing your experience

[panerai153]

Arctos,

No the flyback function is not a feature of this watch. it would take a more complicated movement to have the flyback function.

I have been wearing the Lange every day, and it's really nice. It's averaging about 4-6 seconds fast per day, depending on what position I leave it in at night.

I haven't worn a watch with a leather strap in several years (Last one was a genuine Breitling Chronomat). It's taking a while to get used to it, as it's pretty stiff and doesn't readily conform to my wrist like a NATO or even a metal bracelet. It's now on a genuine Hadley Roma Alligator, and hopefully it will break in before it's worn out!!

I'm still pretty pleased with this watch. It's very "classy" and makes a great dress watch, although as i said in my review, it would be much better for me if it was round 40mm rather than 42mm.This watch has pretty long lugs, and it seems to wear larger than other 42mm watches I have owned. Maybe this is just because the strap is still very stiff, but the watch has a tendency to want to "turn turtle" on my wrist.I'm hoping that as the strap gets a little wear, and gets softer, it will be less likely to want to turn. One of the problems, I don't like the band to be too tight, so I tend to wear my watches a little looser.

I'm hoping to get some better photos outside over the weekend. If I'm able,I'll post them next week.

[Rolexman]

I know who's wacht in he sales section triggered you

It's indeed a marvellous looking watch. Nice pics and thanks for sharing!

Wear it well.

[panerai153]

I know who's wacht in he sales section triggered you

It's indeed a marvellous looking watch. Nice pics and thanks for sharing!

Wear it well.

you are absolutely correct. If i hadn't seen yours, i would probably never thought about a Lange. Your great photos inspired me!!

[cougar1]

Thanks for the review panerai153, it's certainly a beauty, I much prefer the silver cased version you chose than the gold case even though the gold is certainly striking. It looks a really well made watch, I do agree with you that it would've been a nicer dressy profile at 40mm as it is fairly chunky at 42mm but beggars can't be choosers These are selling quite well at the moment, I must pick up one before they all sell out completely and are never to be seen again...which happens all too often with decently repped dressy watches.

[Determine]

That's a very nice piece indeed. Dial is stunning! Reps have sure come a long way! You must get lots of complements on it. Enjoy.

D

[RWG Technical]

Excellent review, and really nice watch, a welcome change from what's normally posted.

The movement is certainly one of the better chrono's, although I have not see one with the calendar work. If the calendar work is built to the same standard as the rest of the movement, you won't have any issues.

Thanks for this, really refreshing.

[panerai153]

Thanks very much my Canadian Friend. Any accolades from you are sincerely appreciated. I am not much of a chrono person, so I doubt the chrono function will get used much. I am going to try to take a few more photos today since it's a nice sunny day and I'm on call, so not much else I can do!!

[chrgod]

Thanks for the review. It is nice to see reviews of the less common brands.

The Seagull ST19 really looks good behind the glass caseback!

[panerai153]

Here are a couple of photos taken outside, really lets you see how beautiful this dial and hands are. Also a better photo of the movement.

[iceberg1459]

nobody can replicate lange..

[panerai153]

nobody can replicate lange..

I agree, and there are a couple of glaring differences between this and the genuine. the biggest tell that would stand out like a neon sign to a "Lange person", is the "12 marker on the rep ,none on the genuine. I'm sure they stuck it in there to give the dial some symmetry since the date window is much lower on the rep. having said that, The cheapest price I could find for a genuine Datograph Flyback wasaround 39.000.00 USD for a 5 year old used. thats about 38,700.00 USD more than mine! If I had won the Megamillions lottery a few weeks ago, I would have my watchbox stuffed with nice genuine watches like the Lange as well as a bunch of vintage models. I didn't so I'll have to settle for this one.

[iceberg1459]

its not about the details, real langes are just supreme quality with solid heavy feeling (all langes are in either gold or platinum). and higher quality in finishing than most pateks.

you can tell by the general look of the watch if its fake or not without even wearing it. also platinum shines different.

you just cant replicate lange..