There are watches that shout about their brilliance, and there are watches that simply let the light do the talking. The Saxonia Thin has always belonged to the latter camp — Lange’s purest dress watch, a two-hand exercise in purity that relies on proportion, poise and finishing rather than fireworks.

This October, the Glashütte manufacture adds two special editions that take the “less is more” credo to its logical conclusion: a duo with deep, jet-black onyx dials, one in 950 platinum, the other in Lange’s proprietary Honeygold. Both are limited to 200 pieces.

A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Special Edition in 750 honeygold case (Image: Revolution ©)

If you’re wondering whether the world needs another minimalist two-hander, Anthony De Haas, Lange’s Director of Product Development, has a ready response. “When we saw the prototype, we already knew we had an absolute killer timepiece … maybe the ultimate tuxedo watch,” he tells Revolution, laughing at his own understatement. He’s right about the onyx, which is such a fathomless black that it seems to swallow the room, then give it back as gloss.

De Haas is keen to stress what these Saxonia Thins aren’t. “There is no new movement,” he says with characteristic candor. “And we’re not going to try to make this the thinnest watch in the world. That game is for other people. For us, the proportions are the most important thing.” In a single breath, he humbly defines the project: this is not a watch built to win Top Trumps spec sheets; it’s a watch built to look and feel “right” on the wrist.

What makes the new Saxonia Thin onyx editions special?

The two new references are essentially twins separated at birth. The result is a fascinating study in character. In platinum, the onyx dial becomes a stage for stark contrasts; hands and baton appliqués read with clarity against the inky gloss. In Honeygold, the dial’s darkness finds a comforting glow, the whole composition radiating a rare warmth.

A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Special Edition in 950 platinum case (Image: Revolution ©)

That duality is deliberate. “We had prototypes in pink gold and in white gold, like we always do, and they looked great,” De Haas confirms. “But I said, ‘You know what? Let’s try to surprise the collectors a little bit …’ And when the prototypes came, we could instantly see the amazing difference.”

On the wrist, the Saxonia Thin’s dimensions carry the day. At 40mm across and just 6.2mm in height, the case is svelte enough to disappear beneath a cuff, but assertive enough to avoid the “saucer on a strap” look De Haas believes plagues ultra-flats when they get too large. “A watch can be too thin if it’s too big,” he says. “You end up with a plate on your wrist. It doesn’t follow your bone structure.” The Saxonia Thin listens to the geometry of comfort with short, gently curved lugs and a neat three-part case. A black alligator leather strap completes the evening-wear brief.

The silver base with jet-black glossy onyx dial (Image: Revolution ©)

The dial is the headline, and Lange lets it be. Onyx appears only occasionally in fine watchmaking; here, it is cut, polished and set as a seamless, obsidian mirror that turns the simplest elements — two hands, twelve markers — into drama. The designers’ obsession lives in the micro-decisions: the exact length and taper of the hands; the chamfers on the indexes; the spacing that keeps the whole thing airy rather than austere. “We have discussions about half a millimeter,” De Haas laughs. “It’s geeky, nerdy … but that’s who we are.”

The beauty of not chasing “world’s thinnest”

Within the case is the well-known and much-loved hand-wound Caliber L093.1. At only 2.9mm high, it’s slim without being silly; the power reserve is a very real-world 72 hours, fed by a flat mainspring barrel; and everything is finished the Lange way, which is to say, lavishly and visibly.

“And we’re not going to try to make this the thinnest watch in the world. That game is for other people. For us, the proportions are the most important thing.”

Anthony De Haas, Director of Product Development, A. Lange & Söhne

Through the sapphire caseback, you see the untreated German silver three-quarter plate with its soft, golden glow; the trio of screwed gold chatons punctuated by blued screws; the hand-engraved balance cock, every flourish unique to the engraver; and the harmonious tissue of solarization, perlage and Glashütte ribbing that brings the movement to life.

Even the layout down to the stop-click spring has been balletically arranged. “The proportion between crown wheel and ratchet wheel, the prominent shape of the stop-click spring, the arched lines of the three-quarter plate … even the position of the blued screws around the gold chatons are meticulously harmonized,” De Haas explains, emphasizing the aesthetic obsession that underpins Lange mechanics.

The Sapphire caseback ©Revolution

The numbers matter, but not in the leaderboard sense. De Haas, who could out-geek anyone in the room if he chose, is uninterested in the “thinnest” race. He’s been around long enough to see that path lead to brittle compromises. “Back in the day, I repaired ultra thin watches. They are simply not everyday timepieces,” he shrugs. That experience informs the Saxonia Thin’s stance: slim enough to feel refined, but robust enough to live on a human wrist.

Each new iteration is capped at 200 pieces and both share the same onyx-faced silver dial beneath. Lange is clear about the rationale: this isn’t about creating a new core-collection SKU that will be endlessly copied. It’s about giving collectors two distilled moods — no more, no less — and then moving on. It’s also an honest nod to reality. “Better this way than launching 500 watches and you’re still sitting on 250 after five years,” De Haas says with disarming frankness.

If you’re keeping track, the Saxonia Thin’s arc is quietly interesting. Launched in 2011 as Lange’s thinnest watch to date, the model has seen subtle dial updates and a brief flirtation with celestial glass dials in blue and black goldstone; now, with onyx, the palette turns to pure black. The platinum case is new to the line and Lange’s own Honeygold introduces a richer counterpoint. It’s a progression that feels restrained but purposeful.

How Lange perfects the art of proportion and simplicity

If you ask De Haas which is harder, this distilled two-hander or a cathedral of complications, he doesn’t hesitate. “It’s far more difficult to construct simplicity than to do stuff with complications,” he says. “With complications, the technical solution drives certain things. Here, everything is proportion. The length of the hour and minute hands to the markers; the aperture to the overture; the thickness to the dial and lugs … everything has to be in balance.” He describes, almost sheepishly, Lange’s habit of resizing date windows or indexes per case size so that nothing feels stretched or shrunk. “Geeky, nerdy, crazy … but this is what we do.” It’s a window into the culture that built the Saxonia Thin and, indeed, the brand at large.

©Revolution

That culture includes doing the hard things you’ll never read on a spec sheet — making balance springs in-house, finishing parts you’ll never see after assembly, and assembling every movement twice to catch the imperceptible imperfections that only reveal themselves after the first pass. It’s why a Lange movement looks and feels composed rather than merely constructed.

Ask any dial maker and they will tell you that black enamel, while exquisite, is fiendish. De Haas considered it and walked away. “If we would have done [this] with a black enamel dial, it would have exploded the price … you should not do that. If you make a watch, it should be obvious why it costs what it costs.” Onyx does its own kind of magic here — dark, shiny, modern — without forcing the watch into a different tax bracket. That’s not to say it’s simple; cutting and fixing a hardstone dial to Lange tolerances is a nerve test of its own. But the result justifies the heart rate. 

Anthony de Haas, Director of Product Development at A. Lange & Söhne

As for Honeygold, De Haas explains why the alloy earns its name and its place. The color is mercurial: sometimes almost white, sometimes rosy, sometimes a deep yellow, depending on the light. And it’s tough — by watchmaking standards, at least — so lugs and bezels keep their crisp lines longer in the real world. All of which makes it a particularly satisfying foil for a black mirror of a dial.

There’s a temptation to label the Saxonia Thin as the “entry” Lange because it has two hands and a cleaner bill of complications. De Haas bristles at the idea. “The grand complication could also be an entry level … you can enter from the top,” he grins. Point taken. The Saxonia Thin is not a lesser Lange; it is simply a different expression of Lange’s values of clarity, proportion and finishing, but without the scaffolding of big dates, jump numerals or split seconds. It’s a connoisseur move, the watch you wear when you want the room to notice you, not your wrist.

Lange’s patented honey gold is reserved for very few, exclusive models. It is harder than other gold alloys and owes its name to the warm hue, ranging between pink and white gold

And yet, it’s a watch with a purpose in the manufacture’s ecosystem. Simpler pieces are where young watchmakers learn the Lange way before moving up the pyramid to tourbillons and minute repeaters; the line is also where the design team can exercise its minimalist eye with rigor. “Mission accomplished,” De Haas says of this year’s cadence, which also included a ravishing enameled 1815 Tourbillon and a Richard Lange release. “You try to vary a little bit … these are not ‘just simple watches.’”

Is the Saxonia Thin the “entry-level” lange? Not quite.

So why release two near-monochrome dress watches in a year when many brands are still chasing novelties with a capital N? De Haas offers a broader reflection. He’s seen the hype cycles and the auction madness, the waitlists that ate the world. He’s also seen something quieter: younger collectors discovering mechanical watches on their own terms, less seduced by logos, more interested in values of craft and the story of a town that chose watchmaking when the ore ran out. “Maybe smartwatches helped,” he muses. “They brought attention back to the wrist.” What Lange brings is the opposite of disposable novelty; it’s patience made visible.

A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Special Edition ©Revolution

In this light, the Saxonia Thin in onyx is more than a pretty face. It’s a statement that when everything is stripped away, what remains at Lange are the things that matter most — design that respects the wrist, movements that reward the loupe and a willingness to say no to easy superlatives. The platinum edition does that with an icy wink; the Honeygold with a quiet smile. Together, they show two routes to the same destination.

The new Saxonia Thin Special Editions are, in De Haas’s words, “super elegant … gorgeous things.” He isn’t wrong, but the real story is how, in an era besotted with maximalism, Lange reminds us that true luxury can be the refusal to shout. You don’t buy this watch for a record; you buy it for a lifetime of glances that keep landing and finding new angles to admire. And if you ask Antony De Haas what he thinks when he turns the watch over and sees the L093.1 laid out like a blueprint, he smiles: “You look at a classical watch — naked wonder.” That, right there, is the point.

Tech Specs: A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Special Edition

Movement: Manual winding Manufacture Caliber L093.1; 72-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours and minutes
Case: 40mm × 6.2mm; 950 platinum or 750 Honeygold; water-resistant to 30m
Dial: Silver base with jet-black, glossy onyx; applied batons with polished chamfers
Strap: Glossy black alligator leather with matching metal prong buckle
Price: EUR 45,000
Availability: Limited edition of 200 pieces per reference, each individually engraved