Walter Lange (1924–2017) was a pivotal German watchmaker and entrepreneur whose life was defined by the restoration of his family’s horological legacy. Born in Dresden on July 29, 1924, he was the son of Rudolf Lange and the great-grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who had founded the A. Lange & Söhne manufacture in Glashütte in 1845. Raised in a family steeped in watchmaking tradition, Walter followed in his ancestors’ footsteps, beginning his formal training as a master watchmaker in Karlstein and Glashütte in 1941.
His career was interrupted by the Second World War when he was called for military service in 1942. Serving on the Eastern Front, Lange was severely wounded in May 1945. He returned to Glashütte only to witness the destruction of the main manufacture building by a bombing raid on the final day of the war. Despite these setbacks, he attempted to rebuild the business with his family, commercializing the Calibre 28 wristwatch in 1947. However, the Soviet occupation led to the expropriation of the company in 1948, forcing it into a state-owned enterprise (VEB). To avoid forced labor in uranium mining, Lange fled to Pforzheim in West Germany. He remained in the industry for the next several decades, working primarily as a sales representative and watch distributor.
The reunification of Germany in 1990 provided Walter Lange with a historic opportunity to revive his family’s brand. On December 7, 1990—exactly 145 years after the original founding—he registered Lange Uhren GmbH at the age of 66. In partnership with industry veteran Günter Blümlein, and with financial support from the Mannesmann conglomerate, Lange sought to return German precision watchmaking to the global stage.
In 1994, the brand officially relaunched with a collection of four watches, including the iconic Lange 1 and the Tourbillon Pour le Mérite. These timepieces established a new standard for German luxury horology, characterized by technical innovations like the outsize date and traditional Saxon craftsmanship. Under his influence, the company grew from a small pioneering team to a globally recognized manufacturer with hundreds of employees, helping to revitalize the economy of Glashütte.
Throughout his later years, Walter Lange served as a representative and ambassador for the brand. He was a vocal advocate for watchmaking education, leading to the establishment of the Walter Lange Training and Further Education Centre. His contributions were recognized with numerous honors, including honorary citizenship of Glashütte in 1995, the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony in 1998, and the Federal Cross of Merit in 2015. Walter Lange passed away on January 17, 2017, at the age of 92, remembered as the man who successfully bridged the gap between the historic traditions of Saxon watchmaking and the modern era.