Quoted from Frippertron:DennisK. What’s the craftsmanship like on a Lange? Unfortunately, I’ve never had the pleasure. I picture walking into an AD or boutique like the children walk into the chocolate room in Willy Wonka. Pure imagination!
I have no idea the boutique experience; I think the closest one to me is NYC (and I bought this used; a lot of people buy these to get access to Lange's fancier watches so they can be had quite a bit less on the second-hand market).
So, setting aside that the watch is gold (which accounts for part of its pricing), the movement is really where a lot of the differences are. Here's a picture of the back of mine (blurred areas are just the serial numbers).
LangeBack (resized).jpg
The three-quarter bridge is in German silver (which actually has no silver in it at all) which gives it that warm sort of look. You can see Glashütte striping has been applied as a finishing pattern (the Swiss do a similar pattern, the Glashütte style is a bit wider). The caps and their surrounds (like around that center "island" which is designed so you can access the keyless works) are mirror beveled. There is mirrored chamfering along the edge of the three-quarter plate (where it faces the balance). Some of the screws are black polished (e.g., the case clamps) as is the part of the cover over the escape wheel and the swan's neck regulator. You can see some of the base plate under the balance; it's decorated with engine-turned perlage. A number of the screws, especially around the jewels, are fire-blued. Now, screws around jewels are a bit atypical in modern watches because the technology exists to just seat the jewels into the bridge. But Lange is using gold chatons, so the jewels are inserted into the chatons, and those get screwed into the bridge. The balance cock is engraved (freehand; each one is unique).
So, there's just a lot more hand finishing involved (the black polish, the hand-engraving, the decision to seat chatons, etc.).
Here's a photo of the balance engraving so you can see it better:
BalanceEngraving (resized).jpg
One of the things I like about Lange is they take the finishing pretty serious (for a mass production watch brand) versus the Holy Trinity. Patek does great finishing... on their high-end pieces. But compare the more entry-level stuff from Patek or AP and I think you'll find Lange puts in more effort. But, for me the Lange 1 was always about the dial configuration. Asymmetry in general is pretty rare but no one does it like Lange. It's very German in its approach (they laid everything out with respect to the rule of thirds) but the outcome is extremely visually satisfying (because the math says it will be).