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Lot 420
A. LANGE & SÖHNE, POSSIBLY UNIQUE 18K PINK GOLD HUNTER CASE LEVER CHRONOMETER WATCH WITH MEISSEN PORCELAIN DIAL
NO. 15'119
Fermé18 May 2021
Prix réalisé
CHF 40,000
Plus d'informations
Note du spécialiste
This extremely fine and rare timepiece made by A. Lange & Söhne features a dial made of Meissen porcelain. By 1.4mm thicker than the better known enamel it shows furthermore a different texture and a thick layer of glazing. Decorated with blue Roman numerals and gold paillons differentiates it from the dials normally used by Lange.
To the best of our knowledge, only two other watches signed my the celebrated manufacturer are known, one openface with blue numerals and one with red numerals, rendering the present example possibly unique.
It furthermore displays many of the features associated with A. Lange & Söhne’s highest grade watches: large and heavy-gauge pink gold “Louis XV” case, 1st Quality "1A” movement with gold escapement and diamond endstone. An interesting technical feature is the unusual micrometer adjustment developed by Carl Moritz Grossmann which allows very fine and controlled regulation of the balance spring.
A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte bei Dresden
For over 150 years, watches made by A. Lange & Söhne were and still are among the most coveted timepieces in the world. The success story of the celebrated dynasty started with Ferdinand Adolph Lange, born in Dresden on 18 February 1815. After the divorce of his parents, he found a new home with a merchant family that gave the intelligent young man a good education. At the age of 15, while he was still attending the polytechnic school in Dresden, he began training as an apprentice with the celebrated master watchmaker J. C. Friedrich Gutkäs.
In 1835, Adolph Lange completed his apprenticeship with honours and continued as Gutkäs' employee for two more years before deepening his skills as a journeyman, working with Europe's most respected chronometer makers, notably Winnerl in Paris. After his return to Dresden in 1841, Lange became a co-owner of and the driving force behind Gutkäs' manufactory, constructing amongst others the celebrated five-minute clock in Dresden's Semper Opera.
Besides his dedication to horological perfection, Adolph Lange was a person of uncommon social sensitivity. The growing level of destitution in the Ore Mountains ultimately urged him to leave his privileged position in Dresden; in 1845, armed with numerous visions and his journey and workbook, he set out for the poverty-stricken town of Glashütte in order to establish the Saxon precision watchmaking industry. In December 1845, with the financial help of the Saxon government, Lange started his own manufacture with his friend Adolf Schneider and fifteen apprentices, followed by 'A. Lange & Söhne' in association with his sons Richard and Friedrich Emil in 1868.
Lange possessed an extended range of knowledge in different directions; his eminent talents did not remain unnoticed, and he was very early elected mayor in his little town. His life was one of activity and he introduced many essential innovations in the manufacturing of watches and chronometry. The horological school at Glashütte, though opened only two years after his dead, was a natural sequence of his thirty years' endeavor to resuscitate watch making in Germany. His shop had been a training school from the first day.
Lange watches are renowned for their variety of rare technical constructions and quality and offer everything from an early pin lever watch handmade by Adolph Lange up to tourbillons and highly complicated astronomical repeating watches.
To the best of our knowledge, only two other watches signed my the celebrated manufacturer are known, one openface with blue numerals and one with red numerals, rendering the present example possibly unique.
It furthermore displays many of the features associated with A. Lange & Söhne’s highest grade watches: large and heavy-gauge pink gold “Louis XV” case, 1st Quality "1A” movement with gold escapement and diamond endstone. An interesting technical feature is the unusual micrometer adjustment developed by Carl Moritz Grossmann which allows very fine and controlled regulation of the balance spring.
A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte bei Dresden
For over 150 years, watches made by A. Lange & Söhne were and still are among the most coveted timepieces in the world. The success story of the celebrated dynasty started with Ferdinand Adolph Lange, born in Dresden on 18 February 1815. After the divorce of his parents, he found a new home with a merchant family that gave the intelligent young man a good education. At the age of 15, while he was still attending the polytechnic school in Dresden, he began training as an apprentice with the celebrated master watchmaker J. C. Friedrich Gutkäs.
In 1835, Adolph Lange completed his apprenticeship with honours and continued as Gutkäs' employee for two more years before deepening his skills as a journeyman, working with Europe's most respected chronometer makers, notably Winnerl in Paris. After his return to Dresden in 1841, Lange became a co-owner of and the driving force behind Gutkäs' manufactory, constructing amongst others the celebrated five-minute clock in Dresden's Semper Opera.
Besides his dedication to horological perfection, Adolph Lange was a person of uncommon social sensitivity. The growing level of destitution in the Ore Mountains ultimately urged him to leave his privileged position in Dresden; in 1845, armed with numerous visions and his journey and workbook, he set out for the poverty-stricken town of Glashütte in order to establish the Saxon precision watchmaking industry. In December 1845, with the financial help of the Saxon government, Lange started his own manufacture with his friend Adolf Schneider and fifteen apprentices, followed by 'A. Lange & Söhne' in association with his sons Richard and Friedrich Emil in 1868.
Lange possessed an extended range of knowledge in different directions; his eminent talents did not remain unnoticed, and he was very early elected mayor in his little town. His life was one of activity and he introduced many essential innovations in the manufacturing of watches and chronometry. The horological school at Glashütte, though opened only two years after his dead, was a natural sequence of his thirty years' endeavor to resuscitate watch making in Germany. His shop had been a training school from the first day.
Lange watches are renowned for their variety of rare technical constructions and quality and offer everything from an early pin lever watch handmade by Adolph Lange up to tourbillons and highly complicated astronomical repeating watches.