Short answer
A fake A. Lange & Söhne fails on the movement. Lange builds hand-wound movements in Glashütte with a three-quarter plate, screwed gold chatons, and a hand-engraved balance cock. Replicas use quartz or a modified Seagull or ETA base. Open the case back first. If the balance cock is smooth or laser-etched, the watch is not a Lange.
What Lange builds
Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the workshop in Glashütte, Saxony, in 1845. The company restarted in 1990 and showed four watches in 1994: the Lange 1, Saxonia, Arkade, and Tourbillon "Pour le Mérite". Annual output runs near 5,000 pieces. That number matters. A real Lange is scarce, so a seller who lists ten new gold Lange 1 watches at once is a warning sign.
The Lange 1 dial layout
The Lange 1 dial is asymmetric. The time sits left of center. The outsize date sits top right. The power reserve sits right. Small seconds sits bottom right. Replica dials shift these points by a millimeter or more. Print quality is the second tell. Lange uses applied gold markers and blued steel hands. Copies use painted or plated markers. Look at the "Auf" and "Ab" text on the power reserve. On fakes the letters are thin, rounded, or filled with ink.
Outsize date
The Lange outsize date uses two discs in two windows. The tens disc carries digits 0 through 3 plus a blank. The ones disc carries 0 through 9. Both discs jump at midnight. The font is a specific serif cut. Replica date discs use a generic font, and the two windows sit at different heights. On a real Lange both windows align on one horizontal line.
Movement checks
- Three-quarter plate with Glashütte ribbing. Copies use a flat plate or a printed pattern.
- Screwed gold chatons at the jewel holes. Fakes use brass or gold-colored rings.
- Hand-engraved balance cock. Each engraving is cut by hand, so no two match. Laser engraving repeats the same lines.
- Blued screws. Real ones are heat-blued steel. Copies are painted blue and show wear at the slot.
- Swan-neck fine adjustment on the regulator.
- Winding feel. A hand-wound Lange takes about 30 turns of the crown to full power. A quartz fake has a crown that does nothing.
Case, numbers, papers
Lange stamps a case number on the back and a movement number on the bridge. Both numbers are recorded in the sales book. A replica often has one number, or a number that repeats on other listings. A real Lange ships with a numbered certificate and a leather folder. Fakes ship with a printed card and a generic wooden box.
Price
A gold Lange 1 starts near $40,000 at retail and holds value on the secondhand market. Replica sellers ask $200 to $900. A listing for a "new Lange 1" under $10,000 is not a Lange.
What to check, in order
- Case back: engraved balance cock, three-quarter plate, gold chatons.
- Diameter: the Lange 1 measures 38.5 mm across and about 9.8 mm thick. Many fakes run 40 mm or more.
- Date font and window alignment.
- Hands: blued steel, not painted alloy.
- Numbers on case and movement, then match them to the certificate.
No single check is enough. Two or three together are. A watchmaker with a case-back wrench and a loupe can settle the question in under five minutes.