Quality 1A Glashütte 18K gold open faced lever watch Circa 1891

Gold open faced lever watch by A. Lange & Söhne
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A German 18K gold open faced quality 1A lever pocket watch, circa 1891. Sold on January 12th, 1891 to the director of the ironworks Romach for 430 DM. 3/4 Plate movement, lever escapement, gold screw compensation balance. White enamel dial with Roman hours and outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. Plain case, monogrammed on the back. Dial signed, case numbered, movement signed and numbered. Comes with an Extract from the Archives.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 101 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden
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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.
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Kurt Sorge was born in Zwickau, Germany, in 1855. In 1877 he graduated as an ironworks engineer. Sorge was one of the leading founders of the Rombacher Hüttenwerke, a smelting plant in Rombach in Lorraine and served as its director from 1888 to 1893. He later went to work for the Krupp company, where he also held managerial positions. Kurt Sorge was a member and manager of a number of industry associations and institutions. He died in 1928 in Nikolassee near Berlin.
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The Rombacher Hüttenwerke was established in 1888. Through co-operations and acquisitions, the company was heavily involved in the history of many renowned enterprises such as the Concordia Bergbau-AG, a mining company in Oberhausen, the Westfälische Stahlwerke, a steel plant in Bochum and the Howaldtswerke, a large shipyard in Kiel. After the occupation of the Ruhr and the inflation, many investments were discontinued and in 1926 the name of the company was changed to Concordia Bergbau-AG.