In the ninth year of its existence, the international competition for young watchmakers is being held under a new name. In honour of the company founder, who died at the beginning of 2017, the competition launched by A. Lange & Söhne in 2010 will be known as the Walter Lange Watchmaking Excellence Award from now on. The training of young watchmakers and the competition were matters especially close to Walter Lange’s heart.
Promoting young talent is the main focus of the competition in which the best students of renowned watchmaking schools from all over the world compete to win the 10,000-euro prize. The multistage process started with a call for applications, which was sent out to over 30 watchmaking schools at the beginning of the year. They could nominate up to three candidates, of whom the most qualified were invited to participate.
From 23 to 27 April 2018, the selected candidates from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Finland and Japan visited Dresden and Glashütte. In the workshops of the manufactory, the budding watchmakers were able to demonstrate their skills in manual techniques such as tremblage engraving and chamfer polishing under the expert guidance of engravers, finishing specialists and watchmakers. In addition, they assembled the automatic movement of a Saxonia Dual Time, a task which presents a great challenge for even the most experienced watchmakers.
The eagerly awaited competition task was revealed by Lange’s director of product development, Anthony de Haas, on the last day. The participants have six months to design and build an acoustic timepiece, one of the most demanding constructions in watchmaking. A basic movement will be provided to them for this purpose. The entries will be judged by a panel of experts in November. The award ceremony will take place as part of an international press event in January 2019.
