Early German silver watch with pin pallet escapement Circa 1848

Silver open faced pocket watch by A. Lange 
–
A rare and early silver open faced Glashütte pocket watch with pin-pallet escapement, circa 1848. ½ Plate movement, pin-pallet escapement from A. Lange’s experimental period, gold screw compensation balance with platinum regulation screws. The cuvette inscribed Ankerhemmung Chronometer – Unruhe. White enamel dial with Roman hours and outer minute divisions. Plain case. Dial signed, case and movement with matching numbers.
–
Diameter: 47 mm
–
Weight: 67 g
–
Signed: A. Lange Glashütte
–
This key wind pocket watch dates from the very early days of the horological industry in Glashütte. During this period of experimentation Adolph Lange for some time favoured pin-pallet escapements. In this case with an extra-long fork and steel pins, which were later replaced by stones. That type of escapement was relatively easy to make and Lange also considered it to have technical advantages. A nearly identical movement with No. 356 is described by Kurt Herkner on page 36 of his book ‘Glashütte und seine Uhre’ (Glashütte and its timepieces), where he also points out the observation holes for checking the meshing of the wheels. The signature A. Lange Glasshütte on the dial seems to indicate that the watch was intended, even at that early point in time, for the English-speaking market.
–
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.