Going Deep With The Datograph

A Lange & Söhne's production director Tino Bobe delves into one of the finest modern chronographs of the modern era.

- Alvin Wong

CALL IT FATE, but stories of A. Lange & Söhne's Datograph and the brand's production director, Tino Bobe, will forever be entwined. "Of course, I remember the birth of the Datograph," says Bobe. "It was in 1999, the year that I joined Lange."

A portmanteau of 'date' and 'chronograph', the Datograph was a chronograph with a 'flyback' function that allowed the user to instantly restart the chronograph timer. It was also only the second complication that A. Lange & Söhne introduced, after the Pour Le Merite Tourbillon, which debuted during the brand's relaunch in 1994.

"It was early days then, but it was also very clear that the Datograph was among the first steps taken to build Lange's watchmaking expertise," says Bobe of the brand's first chronograph watch.