Live Auction 1398Important Watches
A. Lange. A rare and early 18K gold hunter case keywound lever watch with stoppable center seconds and American case
Lot 375

A. Lange. A rare and early 18K gold hunter case keywound lever watch with stoppable center seconds and American case

SIGNED A. LANGE, DRESDEN, NO. 2248, CIRCA 1861

Closed11 November 2013

Price Realised

CHF 30,000

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A. Lange. A rare and early 18K gold hunter case keywound lever watch with stoppable center seconds and American case
Signed A. Lange, Dresden, No. 2248, circa 1861
Three quarter plate gilt-finished jewelled keywound lever movement, bimetallic compensation balance, American gold cuvette, white enamel dial, Roman numerals, stoppable dead beat centre seconds, subsidiary seconds, American engine-turned floral decorated case, front centred by a blank cartouche and engraved initials D.J.B., centre seconds start/stop lever in the band, case numbered and stamped M.P. & Co., dial and movement signed A. Lange, Dresden
51 mm. diam.

Specialist note

According to the Archives of the Uhrenmuseum Glashütte, the present watch can be dated circa 1861 and was most likely sold without a case to North America. Regrettably no records are available from this early period, possibly none were ever made, it can however be assumed that it would be one of Lange's earliest centre seconds watches ever made.

Adolph Lange, born in 1815, started his apprenticeship in 1813 with Johann Friedrich Gutkäs, watchmaker to the court. After years of studies in Paris, England and Switzerland, he returned to Dresden where he married Gutkäs' daughter and became partner in his father-in-law's watch factory. Early pieces, such as the present watch, were often signed G&L for Gutkäs & Lange underneath the dial, proof of their partnership.