The H-List: #1 Lange Pour Le Merit Tourbillon

I'm quite picky about watches, with a small wrist and old school sensibilities, I am strongly biased towards wearable watches that feature in-house movements with technical innovations, superb finishing doesn't hurt either. Although I have yet to find a true grail watch that fits all of these criteria, the closest single watch would have to be the A. Lange & Sohne Richard Lange Pour Le Merit Tourbillon.

The specs:
41.9 mm diameter, 12.2 mm high
Rose gold (unlimited) and platinum (100 examples)
Solid silver dial
Pivoting dial hour dial segment
21,600 VPH
351 parts (not including chain)
32 jewels: 31 rubies and 1 diamond
Fusee and chain transmission: Chain comprising of 636 parts
One minute tourbillon driving the seconds hand
Plates and bridges made of untreated nickel silver
Power reserve of 36 hours (artificially limited to provide optimum torque).
Assembled twice for optimum tolerances
MSRP (USD): Pink Gold 185,300, Platinum 223,600

Unlike many wo write about the watch, I have handled and tried on an example in platinum. But I have to say, anyone who muses over the watch is right to do so. At 42 by 12 mm, the PLM is similar in size to most medium sized dive watches, only a tad bit thinner.

Unlike these ETA powered watches, this is probably the best time-only watch on the planet, with the sole possible contender being Philippe Dufour's simplicity. It is also the finnest example of a regulator, in my opinion, being slightly better than the new 2012 Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Regulator. The dial is interesting and asymmetrical in the finnest Saxon tradition while the exacting details of the movements can never be adequately described using words.

Although the watch is German, a word that many associate with boring, strict, and over-engineered, it is perhaps only the latter two. The finish is immaculate and every aspect is perfect. It may cost as much as a middle-class house, but be assured that you're getting no less. The only hope I have for this watch is that it be a little bit smaller at perhaps 39 mm and 8mm, but that's an unreasonable expectation for such a complex watch.

I can continue to applaud the watch's technical achievements, but such a watch is not about that. This watch is about art and perfection, expressed through engineering instead of a brush.