Very rare German gold quality 1A lever pocket watch Circa 1877

Gold open faced lever watch by A. Lange & Söhne
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A very rare 18 carat gold open faced quality 1A Glashütte lever pocket watch, circa 1877. Glazed ¾ plate movement, lever escapement, gold screw compensation balance. Sold on August 22nd, 1877 to the company Charles William Schumann in New York for 145 Marks. White enamel dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions and sunk subsidiary seconds. Plain case, maker’s punch mark CWS for Charles William Schuhmann, hand-setting by pressing the crown. Dial signed A. Lange Dresden, case numbered, movement signed and numbered, case and movement with matching numbers. Comes with an Extract from the Archives.
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Diameter: 46 mm
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Weight: 83 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden
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Due to the unusual hand-setting system, which is operated by pressing the crown, this timepiece is a true rarity.
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Ferdinand Adolph Lange was the founder of A. Lange & Söhne. He was born in 1815 as the son of Johann Samuel Lange. Early in life, his parents separated and he was adopted by a foster family. Luckily this family offered him a chance at proper education and in 1829, he joined the Technical University of Dresden. Lange’s master was Christian Friedrich Gutkaes, the maker of the famous five-minute clock in the Dresden Opera House and the court watchmaker later on. Lange finished his apprenticeship with honours and went on to work with Gutkaes as his assistant for more than two years. In 1837, Lange decided he wanted to learn the watchmaking craft from the best of the time and this decision took him to Paris, Switzerland and England. He spent four years with the master watchmaker Winnerl, a student of Breguet, in Paris. Lange returned to Dresden in 1841 and took over his now father-in-law Gutkaes’ business in 1842. He had the ambition to bring prosperity to the once rich, now unfortunate Erzgebirge region, Glashütte, he wanted to build a watchmaking industry and create jobs. He received funding from the high council of Saxony and on December 7th, 1845, Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded A. Lange & Cie. He started with fifteen young men who were obliged to work with him for at least five years and following Lange encouraged his apprentices to found their own specialized firms in Switzerland. He set up a watchmaking cluster in the region along with his colleagues Julius Assmann, Adolf Schneider and Moritz Grossmann. At the time, there was a specialist for every part, producing individual pieces of the highest quality. Ferdinand Adolph developed numerous mechanisms, from the remontoir to dead-seconds and repeaters and he introduced the metric system to watchmaking. Eventually, it took Glashütte watchmaking 20 years to develop. After two successful decades and as the mayor of Glashütte Ferdinand Adolph Lange retired in 1868. He enjoyed his spacious house built adjacent to the factory, which today serves as the headquarters of the modern A. Lange & Söhne. He gave the reigns of his legacy to his sons Richard and Emil Lange, subsequently, the company’s name was changed from A. Lange & Cie to A. Lange & Söhne. Under their management A. Lange & Söhne expanded tremendously. Ferdinand Adolph Lange died in 1875.