The Best Watches We Saw at Rhode Island’s Fanciest Car Show

This weekend, I brought my 1815 Up/Down from the beloved German brand A. Lange & Söhne to the Audrain Concours d'Elegance in Newport, Rhode Island. Like most ritzy car shows, it’s also a hotbed for watch spotting and, as the event’s sponsor, Lange even had master engraver Robert Arnold on site to demonstrate his craft. Surrounded by million-dollar supercars, cliffside mansions, and more pastels than Easter Sunday, I handed my 1815 over so Arnold could give it the equivalent of a horological autopsy. Because inside every Lange is something that differentiates the brand from nearly every other watchmaker.Every Lange & Söhne watch has a balance cock—a tiny bridge about the size of a watermelon seed. Its job is to hold the regulating organ, a watch’s tiny beating heart (made up of the balance wheel and hairspring) that controls the speed of the movement and gives it its steady tick-tock.And this balance cock takes on even greater importance at Lange, because each one is hand-engraved with a delicate floral motif by an artisan at its manufacturer in Glashütte, Germany. Because no two engravers share the exact same style, each piece is as unique as a fingerprint—so distinct that Lange’s watchmakers can look at the pattern under a loupe and tell you who engraved it.Between strokes of his graver tool, he took my 1815 Up/Down, made around the year 2000, and looked at it under his microscope. He pointed out the signature flourishes of the pattern that showed this particular engraving was by Helmut Wagner, a Master Engraver and former head of Lange’s engraving department. I already loved my Lange, but this little nugget of knowledge makes me love it just a bit more—not just because Wagner is the guy for Lange, but because I can almost close my eyes and imagine him toiling away on this little piece of German silver, just for my wrist. Looking at a movement, its handcraft, and telling you exactly whose hands made it is something most watch brands can’t do. It’s one piece of what makes Lange & Söhne so special.Since introducing the Datograph in 1999, Lange has become something of a chronograph specialist, making it a fitting partner for the Audrain. Drivers love to time things with their chronographs—or at least, they love the idea of timing things with their chronographs—so there were plenty of Langes, and other impressive timepieces, to spot among the procession of classic cars that took place all weekend during the Audrain Newport Concours and Motor Week.The weekend-long event culminates with the Concours d’Elegance at Fort Adams, a United States Army post dating to 1799. A Concours d’Elegance is a competition where rare, vintage, and classic cars gather to be judged on their beauty, historical accuracy, and restoration. A number of them take place across the world every year, hopscotching to different luxurious locations like Pebble Beach, Lake Como, and Newport. This year’s Audrain Best of Show winner was a 1938 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet, but the competition mostly feels like an excuse for enthusiasts of finely made mechanical things to gather for a few days to swap stories about the gear they love.That means there were plenty of watches. Not just Lange & Söhne, but also outrageous examples from Rolex, Casio, Omega, and other brands on the wrists of enthusiasts as they wandered the rows of glistening classic cars. Here were some of my favorites.The weekend starts with a Saturday morning drive through Newport, ending on the town’s main street, where enthusiasts new and old can take in the classic cars.By Sunday, the nearly 200 cars competing in the Concours d’Elegance move to Fort Adams, where they park for the day so other enthusiasts, collectors, or lookie-loos like me can gawk at them.As the presenting sponsor, there are plenty of Lange & Söhne watches roaming the grounds. Here, a pink-gold Richard Lange.Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid chatting with Jay Leno, who’s a huge car (and watch) collector, and a supporter of the Audrain Museum and Motor Week.Leno posing with his platinum Datograph Perpetual.And Mr. Schmid with a Minute Repeater Perpetual featuring a gorgeous black enamel dial.Former President Joe Biden even made a surprise appearance. His 1967 Corvette, given to him by his father for his wedding, was parked out front.The magnificent Odysseus in Honeygold, Lange’s own proprietary alloy with a muted luster that registers somewhere between the typical yellow, rose, and white gold. It’s a chameleon, shifting tones depending on the ambient light.The three Cs: coffee, cars, and cigars.A vintage “Big Red’ Daytona (ref. 6263). The French collector wearing this told me it’s known in France as the “Belmondo,” after actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who famously wore the same reference in promotional material for his 1975 movie Fear over the City.A Lange & Söhne 1815 Annual Calendar.Fitting to spot a Nomos Glashütte Tangente on a car enthusiast’s wrist.Tony de Haas, Lange’s long-time director of research and development, showing off the new platinum “panda” Triple Split. It improves on the standard split-seconds chronograph by letting you continue to track the elapsed time of two concurrent events for minutes and into hours.Lange’s other newest release, the 1815 Up/Down—the name refers to the power-reserve indicator at 8 o’clock. Introduced in both white and pink gold (as seen here), each version is limited to 300 pieces.A neo-vintage Breguet Tourbillon ref. 3357.The Porsches competing in this year’s Audrain Concours d’Elegance. It’s impossible to mistake those frog-eye headlights.A Lange 1 in front of a brown 1971 T Targa 911.It’s not all expensive stuff. Here’s a young enthusiast showing off his Casio F-91W.Looking out at the competing cars at Fort Adams.A collector takes in Lange’s chronograph lineup, including this salmon-dial 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar.Lange has taken off with collectors over the past year or so—much of that is because of the private luxury that is flipping over your watch to take in the movement. Here, the business side of a Datograph Up/Down.Engraver Robert Arnold wearing a white-gold 1815 Up/Down.The competing Ferraris, led by a 330 GTC.A Richard Lange jumping seconds—this version with a pink-gold dial was limited to 100 pieces. The “jumping seconds,” refers to the special mechanism that causes the seconds hand to tick forward in one-second increments (like a quartz watch does), unlike most mechanical watches, which tick away in tiny fractions of a second.An enthusiast wearing his Datograph Up/Down in platinum.A 1964 Aston Martin DB5, best-known for its starring role in the James Bond films—this one was blasting Bond’s theme music all afternoon. Inside, you can see the dashboard clock and other instruments were made by Smiths, a former British watchmaker mostly known for its military and field watches.A limited-edition 1815 Up/Down “Walter Lange” from 2007. You can distinguish it from standard editions by those vibrant gold rings surrounding the subdials. The movement is also hidden beneath a hunter-style caseback.A sporty 1990s Blancpain Leman Flyback Chronograph on the wrist of a collector.I’m far from a car enthusiast, but I kept finding myself drawn to Pegaso, the Spanish sports car maker. This is a rare Pegaso Z-102 from the 1950s—big, but with flowing, aerodynamic lines that look ahead of its time.A couple wearing a gold Lange 1 with a blue dial and a Rolex Datejust “Wimbledon.”Car journalist Donald Osborne is the de facto host at Audrain. He told me he loves old watches, too. Here he is wearing his vintage Omega Speedmaster.This military serviceman showed me his “Old Hickory” watch and showed me photos of the spy planes he flies. An extremely cool gentleman, but I cannot, for the life of me, find any information online about his watch. If you read this, please get in touch!At the Audrain, fashion statements are also made. Exhibit A: a dressed-up gent with an old Rolls-Royce duffel.The instantly recognizable silhouettes of post-World War II American cars. Compare these sharp lines to the flowing shape of that Pegaso. It’s crazy to think these cars were all made around the same time.A two-tone vintage Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16753, sitting on top of the owner’s 1962 Fiat OSCA 1500 S Coupe.A Rolex Paul Newman Daytona ref. 6263. It’s a total cliché to spot Daytonas at a car event, so I only included the best ones I saw. I saw plenty of modern Daytonas, and even some from the 1980s and 90s, but this crispy Paul Newman was the best Daytona I saw all weekend. Not just because it’s rare, but look how clean that creamy white dial is.A lovely Lange & Söhne Little Lange 1 Moonphase with 1.2 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds in the bezel.The classic: a rose-gold Lange 1 with argenté (silver) dial.A Lange 1 Moonphase in platinum. The blue moonphase has this super vibrant gradient that glows like the night sky just before sunrise.A Panerai Radiomir “8 Day,” named after its massive 8-day power reserve—most modern watches have a power reserve about half that length, if you’re lucky.The Longines Spirit Flyback Chronograph—a super-impressive watch for about $4,000.