Key Highlights
- Limited to 50 pieces; case and dial crafted entirely in A. Lange & Söhne’s proprietary 750 HONEYGOLD®
- Black-rhodiumed dial with hand-ground honey-gold relief elements rising 0.15 mm above the surface
- World’s first stop-seconds tourbillon, originally patented in 2008, carried forward in this new edition
- Manually wound calibre L042.1: 370 parts, 84 in the tourbillon, 120-hour power reserve
- Upper tourbillon bridge and cage top decorated with black polish — one of haute horlogerie’s most demanding finishing techniques
- Introduced at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Lake Como, mid-May 2026
- The 18th A. Lange & Söhne watch crafted in HONEYGOLD®; reference 703.050
A Dial Built Over Weeks
Relief Sculpture in Gold
The dial of the Cabaret Tourbillon Honeygold is manufactured entirely in-house and composed of three parts: the main dial, a subsidiary seconds auxiliary, and an UP/DOWN power-reserve indicator. From the honey-gold base, finishers sculpt every frame, scale graduation, and the “A. LANGE & SÖHNE” inscription as a standing relief — 0.15 millimetres proud of the surface. The entire assembly is then black-rhodiumed, after which craftspeople grind each raised element by hand, allowing the HONEYGOLD® to re-emerge luminous against its darkened field.
Roman numerals III, IX, and XII, six lozenge-shaped hour appliques, and the outsize date frame are integrated separately. The full process, from the first cutting pass to final assembly, takes several weeks per dial.
Black Polish on the Tourbillon
An aperture at 6 o’clock frames the tourbillon with stop seconds. The upper bridge and the top surface of the cage carry black polish — a finish achieved by sliding the component across a tin plate with abrasive paste under precise, uniform hand pressure. At one angle the surface reflects like a mirror; shift the light and it reads jet-black. Every acute internal angle of the cage receives the same treatment, a demand that eliminates any margin for error.
The Stop-Seconds Tourbillon — A 2008 Patent in Continuation
The Cabaret Tourbillon holds a specific place in A. Lange & Söhne’s technical record: when it appeared in 2008, it carried the world’s first stop-seconds mechanism for a tourbillon. Before that, setting a tourbillon watch to the second was simply not achievable — the cage’s continuous rotation made precise synchronisation impossible. Lange’s patented arresting spring halts the cage regardless of the balance or cage position at that instant, restoring to the tourbillon the same time-setting precision long taken for granted in conventional lever-escapement watches. The Honeygold edition continues that lineage without alteration to the underlying mechanism.
Calibre L042.1 — Form Movement, Full Specification
Architecture and Finishing
Through the sapphire-crystal caseback, the manually wound calibre L042.1 reads as a study in restrained precision. Its 370 parts — 84 belonging to the tourbillon, which weighs approximately a quarter of a gram — are mounted on a three-quarter plate of untreated German silver dressed with Glashütte ribbing. Nine screwed gold chatons, blued screws, a solarised ratchet wheel, and hand-engraved tourbillon and intermediate-wheel cocks confirm the manufacture’s standard finishing protocol, applied here without concession to the edition’s decorative character.
Performance Figures
A twin mainspring barrel delivers 120 hours of power reserve. The balance spring is manufactured in-house and operates at 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour. Case dimensions are 29.5 × 39.2 × 10.3 mm; the movement measures 22.3 × 32.6 × 6.4 mm — each dimension calibrated to the rectangular CABARET case geometry in place since 1997.
Edition Details and Presentation
The Cabaret Tourbillon Honeygold is the 18th A. Lange & Söhne reference to be crafted in HONEYGOLD®, the manufacture’s exclusive alloy. Its dark-brown hand-stitched alligator leather strap closes with a honey-gold prong buckle, completing the warm-dark contrast carried through every layer of the watch. Production is capped at 50 pieces, each engraved with its edition number. The reference was shown publicly for the first time at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in mid-May 2026 — a setting whose emphasis on coachbuilt rarity and singular craft aligns precisely with what this edition represents.
For further information, visit the A. Lange & Söhne official website. Coverage of other significant horological releases from this season can be found in our Watches and Wonders editorial hub.
Stay ahead of the latest releases. Subscribe to our newsletter for editor-curated coverage of luxury timepieces across the GCC.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes the Cabaret Tourbillon Honeygold’s dial unique?
The dial is manufactured entirely in-house from three parts composed of 750 HONEYGOLD®, hand-ground to create relief elements that rise 0.15 mm above the black-rhodiumed surface. The entire process from cutting to final assembly takes several weeks per dial, with each raised element individually sculpted and reground to expose the warm honey-gold against the darkened field.
What is the stop-seconds tourbillon and when was it first patented?
The stop-seconds tourbillon is A. Lange & Söhne’s patented mechanism, originally introduced in 2008, that halts the cage regardless of balance or cage position, allowing precise time-setting to the second—a capability that did not exist for tourbillons before this innovation. The Cabaret Tourbillon Honeygold continues this technical lineage without alteration to the underlying mechanism.
What are the power reserve and movement specifications of the Cabaret Tourbillon Honeygold?
The manually wound calibre L042.1 features 370 parts with 84 dedicated to the tourbillon, delivering a 120-hour power reserve. The balance spring operates at 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour and is manufactured in-house, with all components mounted on a three-quarter German silver plate finished with Glashütte ribbing.
Explore more from A. LANGE & SÖHNE: SAXONIA ANNUAL CALENDAR in 750 pink gold and 750 white gold | A. Lange & Söhne · LANGE 1 TOURBILLON PERPETUAL CALENDAR “Lumen” in 950 platinum | A. Lange & Söhne.
