HANDS-ON: The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph with Pulsometer Scale

Felix Scholz

The story in a second:

For this year’s Watches & Wonders A. Lange & Söhne, the German masters of high-end horology, have released boutique only version of their 1815 chronograph featuring a silver dial with blue markings and an elegant pulsometer scale.

The Pulsometer – along with the telemeter – is one of the more uncommon types of chronograph scale. It’s far more usual to see a chronograph with a tachymeter, as measuring speed over distance is a more common application than measuring the heart rate or distance from a sound.

The tachymeter scale has been so normalised on the dials of watches that the mere inclusion of one of these more esoteric scales firmly places the watch into the ‘heritage revival’ category (like this TAG Heuer or this Longines). But bear in mind Lange don’t release watches based on trends – their clean style and peerless technical capacity means they’re much more likely to be setting them.

Having said that, this new 1815 Chronograph does reference the past – though only its own. While the 39.5mm white gold case and the manually wound L951.5 movement are the same as the current (second) generation of the 1815 Chronograph, the dial takes its cue from the original model, which featured the pulsometer scale. From our perspective the return of the pulsometer is a welcome one – it doesn’t clutter the dial and adds warm personality to an otherwise quite formal watch.

A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph with Pulsometer scale pricing and availability

This edition of the 1815 Chronograph is a limited production piece, and only available from A. Lange & Söhne boutiques. It has a retail price of 49,000 euro.

Images by Marcus Flack.