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Tradition Through Time A. Lange & Söhne
A. Lange & Söhne alange-soehne.com
There is poetry in the ancient crafts, a resonance that makes its home within artists who work by hand and by passion to synergise traditional methods with modern dreaming. Craft translates inspiration into form, and captures the human spirit within art that deepens our understanding and arrests our attention. Nowhere does this vibration carry through time as it does in Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, a city created by and for artists, which combines traditional methods with fresh vision to this day. There was no other place to share with the world a sophisticated timepiece that displays an abundance of handcrafted details, a contemporary art piece with the virtuosity of ancient craft, at home in the city of artists. A city first organised by its crafts, where ancient shields adorn the walls to honour the guilds that were the driving force of trade and identity. Home of the Renaissance masters, whose architecture and artworks still define the city today. Students come from around the world to learn the techniques of these ancient visionaries, and remain to become the creative voices of the modern age. Florence now hosts innumerable contemporary expressions and exhibitions, such as those in Palazzo Galli Tassi, the home of Numeroventi, and the hidden studios open to those who know where to find them. Behind each door, skill and vision collide. Through craft, a single point of colour becomes the source of endless creation. Blue. The colour of the Madonna’s robes, of grace, of the sea and the expansive world of emotion it symbolises, and the most expensive colour of the Renaissance. Ultramarine, a colour that represents the divine and those it touches, from members of royalty to the starry night dreams of Van Gogh. This enigmatic colour is the leitmotif that permeates a series of artlike masterpieces: four new watches with deep-blue dials, as well as a limited series complication with elaborate engravings that shine beneath an ocean of blue enamel.