World's Finest Watch Company NOT Swiss?

Very cool article here in Forbes on a German watch company called A. Lange & Sohne (link to their web site here). Swiss manufacturers are typically thought of as being the best watchmakers, with Patek Philippe being considered probably the best (link here for Patek Philippe's site).

The article suggests that maybe the Germans are outdoing the Swiss at their own game. Whenever I can afford to buy my first nice watch (certainly not today), it'll probably be one of the less-expensive stainless steel / black models of Omega or maybe an IWC Schaffhausen. But if I can ever earn quite a bit more, I'd love to one day get something like the Langematik Perpetual below. I do not know how much they cost, but I'm sure that it is very high, likely something over $60,000.


Even MORE astronomical (probably something like $500,000+!) is this company's most complicated piece, the Tourbograph Pour Le Merite, below, and link here for more info.


From the company's web site: When fully wound, the mainsprings of mechanical watches deliver more torque than when they are nearly unwound, and this can cause rate inaccuracies. The fusée-and-chain transmission is perhaps most elegant way to eliminate this phenomenon. But it is so difficult to craft that only Lange's master watchmakers have had the courage to integrate it in the confines of a wristwatch (it has previously only been used in larger pocket watches). Image below of the fusée-and-chain transmission. Man, no wonder a mechanical engineer like me is interested in this stuff!