German silver open faced seconde morte lever deck watch Circa 1925

Silver lever watch with independent jumping seconds by A. Lange & Söhne
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A German silver open faced seconde morte lever deck watch, circa 1925. Sold in 1925 for 750 marks to Johann Schmid, a priest in Pötzmes, Bavaria. 3/4 Plate movement, gold screwed compensation balance, independent jumping seconds mechanism. Silver dial with Roman hours and outer minute divisions, sunken subsidiary seconds. Plain silver case with rose gold hinges and crown. Dial signed, case and movement signed and numbered. Comes with the original box, certificate, order confirmation, invoices and contemporary correspondence.
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Weight: 122 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden
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Should one take a watch when travelling by train?
In 1925 the parish priest of Pötzmes in Bavaria purchased a fine-quality silver pocket watch from Lange & Söhne in Glashütte. The timepiece boasts a fairly rare silver dial and large, jumping central seconds with a stop function, a so-called seconde morte. The delicate movement is still in perfect condition. Although Pötzmes was nowhere near a railway line, the man of the cloth was nevertheless apprehensive about the effect electrical installations may have on the running of his watch. When he approached Lange & Söhne with his question, he was assured that – whereas a visit to a 20,000-volt transformer station was not to be recommended – normal use of the 50,000-volt railway should not affect the watch. The driver’s cab was to be avoided though.
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Four original bills for cleaning and adjusting by the maker bear evidence of the care that was put into the maintenance of this timepiece. In February 1941, however, the watch was returned to its owner without having been serviced. At the time Lange & Söhne were not permitted to carry out any civil work.
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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.