The Thin is an entry level Lange (to the extent that there is such a thing). This is as traditional a piece of watchmaking as you are going to get: two hands, white dial, no seconds hand, no date, and hand-wound. It’s quite thin, at 5.9 mm (the same thickness as the 40 mm version) with a movement – Lange caliber L093.1 – that’s 28 mm x 2.9 mm. For comparison, the Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 849, which we wrote about in our three-part series on ultra thin watches, is 1.85 mm thick, making the Lange exactly 1.05 mm thicker. I think it’s obvious that the goal here for Lange wasn’t to compete for any records; rather, it was to make a simple but substantial, high-grade wristwatch that’s thin enough to look and feel elegant, but substantial enough to send that most challenging of subliminal messages for any luxury product to send, which is “I’m worth it.” On how well the Saxonia gets that message across, Walt Odets probably said it best (again) back in 2002, writing about his impressions on taking ownership of his own Saxonia: “At 34 mm and a slightly thick 8.5 mm or so, it looked like a biscuit and was twice the weight a gold watch its size ought to be. The buckle was twice the weight it ought to be. Even the sapphire back had more gold in it than two solid backs from anyone else.”
That watch was a Saxonia with small seconds and a large date; the latter is probably responsible for most of the extra height over the new Thin. However, both watches have an absolutely classic movement configuration. If you look through the display backs of Odets’ Lange Saxonia from 2002, and the new Thin, you’re going to see very, very similar views. The 2002 model, however, has a true three-quarter plate movement, with all going-train elements, including the crown wheel and ratchet wheel, hidden completely under the plate. (Check out our interactive movement model in Watch 101 for a refresher on those components). The Thin, however, has the crown and ratchet wheels on the same level as the upper three-quarter plate.