A. Lange & Söhne’s Walter Lange, 92

GENEVA — The world’s premium watch industry lost one of its most prestigious names with the death Tuesday of Walter Lange, former head of famed brand A. Lange & Söhne, at age 92.

Lange fled his native eastern Germany in 1948 after Soviet forces confiscated the watch company created in 1845 by his great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the-then independent German state of Saxony. Saxony’s then ruler had reacted enthusiastically to F. A. Lange’s suggestion of promoting watchmaking in the rural village of Glashütte, not far from the state capital of Dresden. At its peak, Glashütte was home to numerous watchmaking and component companies, an inspiration that came to F. A. Lange after a trip to Switzerland’s remote Jura region, where local farmers turned their skills to making mechanical components and watches during the long winter months.