Short answer
A. Lange & Söhne does not license replicas. Every replica Lange sold online is an unlicensed copy. Street prices run from about $200 to $1,200. Genuine Lange watches start near $40,000 for a Saxonia and pass $90,000 for a Zeitwerk. Replica makers copy Lange less often than Rolex or Omega because the finishing is hard to fake. A buyer in the US who imports one risks seizure by Customs and Border Protection and federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2320.
What A. Lange & Söhne builds
Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the company in Glashütte, Germany in 1845. The state expropriated it in 1948. Walter Lange restarted the brand in 1990 after reunification. Annual output sits near 5,000 to 6,000 watches.
The line includes the Lange 1, Datograph, Saxonia, Odysseus and Zeitwerk. Movements are made in-house. Build details: a three-quarter plate in untreated German silver, screwed gold chatons, blued screws, a hand-engraved balance cock, and the outsize date on the Lange 1. Two separate date discs jump together at midnight.
Replica price tiers
- $50 to $150: quartz or basic automatic movement, mineral glass, plated brass case, printed dial.
- $200 to $500: Asian automatic movement, steel case, sapphire crystal on some sellers, decorated rotor.
- $600 to $1,200: the top tier. Modified clone movements, gold plating, machine-cut engraving on the balance cock.
Case thickness on a replica Lange 1 is often 1 mm to 2 mm off spec. Genuine cases are gold or platinum. Most replicas use 316L steel.
Tells on a replica
- Balance cock engraving is machine-cut or missing. Genuine engraving is done by hand, one engraver per watch.
- The three-quarter plate is rhodium-plated brass, not German silver. Color reads white-grey instead of warm.
- The outsize date runs on one disc, or the two discs do not jump at midnight.
- Weight. Gold and platinum cases are heavy. A steel copy feels light in the hand.
- Dial text. Font weight on "Made in Germany" and "Glashütte" differs from the original.
- Solid caseback. Genuine Lange watches use sapphire on both sides.
Legal status in the US
19 U.S.C. § 1526 bars import of goods bearing a counterfeit trademark. CBP can seize and destroy a shipment. Trafficking in counterfeit goods carries up to 10 years in prison for a first offense under 18 U.S.C. § 2320, and up to 20 years for a repeat offense. Civil claims fall under the Lanham Act. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(c), statutory damages run from $1,000 to $200,000 per counterfeit mark per type of goods, and up to $2,000,000 if the use is willful.
Service and resale
No authorized Lange service center works on a replica. Independent watchmakers often refuse. Parts do not interchange with genuine components. Resale value is near zero. Genuine Lange watches sell on the secondary market below retail for many references.
Open questions
No public data breaks out counterfeit Lange seizures by brand. CBP reports seizure totals by product category. Production figures for replica factories are not published.