SINGAPORE - German watchmaker A. Lange & Sohne will be showcasing some 30 rare and special timepieces in a special exhibition to be held at the National Gallery Singapore Supreme Court Terrace.

Held from Dec 1 to 5, the Exceptional Masterpieces will also take visitors on a retrospective journey of the brand's history and evolution.

A. Lange & Sohne crafts only a few thousand timepieces a year, but its watches often push horological boundaries with their mechanical ingenuity and sophisticated dial design.

Many of their creations have become not just icons, but also grails for collectors - from the Lange 1 with its asymmetrical dial and outsized date indicator to the Datograph, which has chronograph sub-registers placed at 4.00 and 8.00 instead of the more commonplace 3.00 and 9.00.

Since the company's re-establishment in 1990 (Lange actually started in 1845, but became a casualty of World War II), the watchmaker has launched 65 calibres - almost all produced in its production plant in the little town of Glashutte in Saxony.

Lange has a reputation for peerless craftsmanship. Its watchmakers, for instance, engrave the balance cock of every timepiece by hand. They also bevel and polish - a process called chamfering - the edges of parts in a Lange movement by hand.

Another unique selling proposition? Every movement is assembled twice. After the first assembly, it is taken apart and cleaned before being put together again.

A great proponent of innovation, the brand's late founder Walter Lange once said: "There is something that you demand not only of your watch, but also of yourself - never stand still."

The exhibits at Exceptional Masterpieces include a selection fashioned from honey gold, a proprietary gold alloy which has an alluring hue and is highly resistant to scratches and damage.

Also on show are several "Lumen" models, timepieces with sapphire crystal dials developed by Lange which can show the date, time and even the intricacies of a Lange movement at all hours. The secret is a semi-transparent coating permeable for ultraviolet light.

Visitors will get to see seven rare pocket watches too as Lange's early claim to fame was producing beautifully constructed and solidly reliable clocks and pocket timepieces.

Here are several highlights:

Richard Lange Tourbillon "Pour Le Merite" Handwerkskunst in Honey Gold

The Richard Lange Tourbillon was launched in 2010, with the "Pour le Merite" label to indicate the brand's most advanced creations.

The same tourbillon got an upgrade the following year. Lange's "Handwerkskunst" (craftsmanship) models are those featuring complex and intricate hand finishing.

This honey gold limited-edition (15 pieces) watch boasts two complications - a fusee-and-chain transmission and a tourbillon.

It is also an eye-opening showcase of decorative techniques such as tremblage - a hand engraving technique which produces a delicate and vivid granular texture - and relief engraving on the dial and movement components.

Zeitwerk Lumen Honey Gold

Launched in October, this limited-edition watch (200 pieces) highlights Lange's proprietary honey gold and Lumen technology featuring a specially developed, semi-transparent dial that makes the luminous jumping numerals display fully visible.

1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar Handwerkskunst

This exclusive Handwerkskunst edition bears testimony to Lange's artisanal virtuosity. The dial and the hinged cuvette is fashioned from blue enamelled white gold with elaborate relief engravings.

Boasting special decorative techniques, the movement stands out with the rare and fascinating combination of a split-seconds chronograph and a perpetual calendar with a moon-phase display.

175 Years "Homage to F.A. Lange"

Presented at the Watches & Wonders event in Shanghai in 2020, this wondrous trio are models of the 1815 watch family with the epithet "Homage to F. A. Lange".

The cases are made of exclusive honey gold with special movement decorations and dials dedicated to the brand's founding father Ferdinand Adolph Lange.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Dec 3 to 5, from 10am to 9pm. Go to this website to register and book time slots.