How to Spot a Fake Saxonia Date
A fake A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Date fails in three places first: the outsize date aperture, the hand-engraved balance cock, and the caseback screws. Inspect those before anything else. If one of them is wrong, stop. If all three pass, work through the dial, hands, crystal, and movement to confirm.
Before You Start
- A 10x jeweler's loupe or a macro lens
- Bright, diffuse light from a desk lamp or window
- A scale accurate to 0.1 g
- A timegrapher, if you can borrow one
- The published specs for the exact reference you are inspecting
Step-by-Step Inspection
- Match the case diameter and thickness to the published specs. A Saxonia is a thin, restrained case. Counterfeit cases run thicker to swallow a third-party movement, and many run larger than the reference they claim to be.
- Study the outsize date aperture under 10x magnification. Genuine Lange uses two separate discs side by side, with the digits aligned to the same baseline and an even gap between them. On a fake, one digit sits high, one sits low, or the gap between the discs is uneven.
- Advance the date and watch the change at midnight. The Lange mechanism cross-jumps, so both discs move together in one instant. A fake drags the first digit, then the second, across several minutes.
- Examine the balance cock engraving. Every Lange balance cock is hand-engraved with a floral pattern. The cuts are deep, irregular, and slightly uneven in spacing. Stamped or laser-etched copies look shallow and machine-perfect.
- Look for screwed gold chatons around the visible jewel bearings. Real Lange movements set key jewels in gold chatons held by blued steel screws. Fakes leave the jewels bare or fake the chatons with a printed ring.
- Check the three-quarter plate and its ribbing. The plate is untreated German silver with wide, straight Glashütte stripes and circular graining on the ratchet and crown wheels. Plated brass with coarse or printed striping is a giveaway.
- Inspect the blued screws. They should be polished steel, heat-blued to a deep, even tone, with crisp slot edges. Painted or chemically darkened screws show purple patches and rounded slots.
- Examine the applied dial markers. Saxonia markers are solid gold with polished, faceted edges. Fakes glue on plated markers, and you can spot adhesive squeeze-out or a marker sitting off level.
- Check the hands. They should be flat, evenly finished, and sharp at the tip, with clean bevels and no burrs on the inner edges. Rounded tips and rough sides point to a copy.
- Read the printed text. Confirm the umlaut in SÖHNE, the correct weight of each letter, and no ink bleed under the loupe. Fakes misspell the name, drop the umlaut, or print thick, fuzzy type.
- Flip the watch and inspect the caseback. The sapphire back sits flush, the screws are polished with no burrs, and the engraving on the case is crisp and evenly spaced. Soft, shallow engraving means a cast case.
- Weigh the watch and turn the crown. A solid gold Saxonia has real heft for its size, and a hand-wound Lange crown turns smoothly with light resistance and no side play. Brass and grit are dead giveaways.
- Compare the movement and serial numbers to the paperwork. Numbers are engraved on the movement and should match the certificate. Ask for the original invoice and service history.
- Run it on a timegrapher. Note the beat rate, amplitude, and rate deviation in several positions. A movement that will not hold a steady rate is not a Lange calibre.
Red Flags That End the Inspection
- The date changes in two visible steps instead of one jump
- A mirror-bright crystal with no blue-purple anti-reflective sheen
- Indices that flex or lift when you press a fingernail against them
- An offer price far below the market for the reference
- No matching certificate, box, or service records
Work the list in order. The date aperture and the balance cock will settle most questions before you ever need the timegrapher.