German gold hunting cased presentation watch Circa 1903

Gold chronograph by A. Lange & Söhne
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A rare 18 carat gold hunting cased lever Glashütte pocket watch with chronograph and 30-minute counter, circa 1903. Sold on April 25th, 1903 to the company Theodor Körner in Chemnitz for 654 Marks. ¾ Plate movement, lever escapement, gold screw compensation balance. Gold cuvette with a presentation engraving. White enamel dial with black Roman hours, red Arabic five-minute numerals, sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and 30-minute counter at 12. Engine-turned monogrammed case. Dial signed, case numbered, movement signed and numbered, case and movement with matching numbers. Comes with an Extract from the Archives.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 131 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden
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Around 1900, senior engineer Clemens Haage published his ‘Verhaltensregeln für Dampfkessel-Heizer’ (code of conduct for firemen on steam engines) with the ‘Dampfkessel-Revisions-Verein of Saxony’, a forerunner of today’s Technical Control Boards and usually in charge of rather large works of engineering. In 1903, however, Haage was able to call his own the exquisite marvel of fine engineering that is now before us. On the occasion of his 25th anniversary (he was by now a director of the board), Haage was presented with this pocket watch, a fine and rare Glashütte chronograph with a 30-minute counter. The finishing was equally lavish: monogram and dedication on the perfectly preserved gold case were engraved by Gustav Gessner, who was one of the most famous and in-demand engravers in Glashütte, a member of the watch and clock-making school supervisory board and member of the municipal council. (Records report how the graduates happily took their graduation pieces to Gessner to have their names engraved after passing their exams at the school…).
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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.