Entrepreneur Stefano Pessina spotted wearing a A. Lange & Söhne

Stefano Pessina, the Monaco-based pharmaceutical magnate and executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance, was recently spotted wearing a honey gold A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone, reference 116.032 — a piece that sits at the intersection of genuine mechanical complexity and considered, almost austere elegance. It is precisely the kind of watch that rewards the informed eye while remaining invisible to everyone else.

The Lange 1 Time Zone was introduced in 2005 as an evolution of the original Lange 1, adding a second time zone display via a dedicated subdial at the lower left of the dial, paired with a day/night indicator and a pusher-operated city ring showing 24 reference zones. Reference 116.032 houses the manually wound calibre L031.1, a movement comprising 410 components, beating at 21,600 vph, with a 72-hour power reserve. The outsize date — a Lange hallmark since 1994 — remains front and center, driven by the manufacture's proprietary instantaneous-jumping mechanism. In honey gold, Lange's in-house alloy that imparts a warmer, distinctly reddish-copper tone compared to standard 18k yellow gold, the case measures 41.9 mm and presents the argenté (silver) dial in its most classic, legible form.

Among collectors, the Lange 1 Time Zone occupies a specific and respected niche. It is not the most technically complex piece in the Glashütte manufacture's catalogue — that conversation belongs to the Tourbograph or the Datograph Perpetual — but it represents one of the most coherent implementations of a world-time complication in German horology. The honey gold and argenté combination of Ref. 116.032 is considered one of the more desirable dial configurations, offering vintage warmth without sacrificing the crisp legibility that defines the Lange 1 family.

Pessina's background as an engineer — he holds a degree from Milan's Politecnico — gives his watch choices additional context. He is a man who built a global pharmaceutical empire through precise, structurally rigorous thinking, and the Lange 1 Time Zone, with its logical dial architecture and no-nonsense mechanical excellence, maps neatly onto that profile. It is also entirely appropriate for a businessman who divides his time across multiple continents.

The Lange 1 Time Zone Ref. 116.032 carries an official list price of approximately €46,900. On the grey market, demand for honey gold Lange 1 variants remains firm, with examples typically trading near or slightly above retail — a reflection of A. Lange & Söhne's controlled production volumes and the enduring desirability of warm-gold case references among serious collectors.