Guests to Miracles at Midnight usually dress to the hilt, and that extends to their jewelry. If you know me, you know I’m a watch fanatic. Last weekend I was impressed by a very handsome watch worn by a gentleman in the front row. Since we were in such close proximity, I could see the watch peeking out from his sleeve cuff. After the show he allowed me to examine it – an A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwork. I’ve long been an admirer of this German watchmaker, but had never seen a watch quite like this.

First off, unlike most fine timepieces – it’s a digital watch. If you look at the picture above, you can easily read the time: 7:52. To see how that time is configured behind the faceplate, look at the picture below.

There are three sets of dials. The hour dial rotates on a central axis, but the two dials that compose the minutes are positioned off-center. They rotate in league with each other to form any combination of minutes from :00 to :59. That is some inspired thinking.

For those curious to see what the watchworks look like from the rear side.

This photo shows a surprise feature that is available on one of the Zeitwerk models – glow-in-the-dark numbers. If you know anything about photoluminescence, you know that photo cells can only store photons when exposed to light. So how would the hidden dials be able to store light while they are constantly positioned behind the faceplate? A. Lange & Sohne engineers solved this problem quite elegantly by using filtered glass as the faceplate, allowing light to pass through the face of the watch, while appearing black to the naked eye. It’s like a sunglass lens, in reverse.

I’m not in the market for a new watch, but this fellow’s watch certainly caught my eye, and gave me something new to admire.

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