German gold historically interesting hunting cased watch Circa 1908

Gold lever  chronograph 
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An important, historically interesting and exceptionally large hunting cased pocket watch with chronograph, counter and an extract from the archives made by A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte, Germany, circa 1908. The numbered case of this watch was crafted from 14 carat gold and has a cuvette with a dedication from 1908. The white enamel dial has black Roman hour numerals, outer minute divisions with red Arabic five minutes, an outermost fifth of a second track, a subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o’clock, a 30 minute counter at 12 o’clock and blued steel hands. The numbered very fine quality A. Lange & Söhne precision movement has a lever escapement with a chronograph, gold lever, gold escape wheel, fine adjusting device and solid gold high quality chronograph wheels.
Case and movement have matching numbers, and dial and movement are signed.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 123 g
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Signed: Deutsche Uhrenfabrikation Glashütte ^I/S A. Lange & Söhne
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The dedication on the dust cover certifies a connection to the construction of four remarkable ships of the Weser joint stock company: the D164 – steamer Berlin, the Thüringen from the Imperial Navy, the freighter Lorraine and the Lützow.
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According to the inscription on the cuvette, this pocket watch was a gift from the company Actiengesellschaft Weser in Bremen to their employee Wilhelm Bartling for construction management between 1905 and 1908, with reference to the names Lothringen, Thüringen, Goeben, Lützow and D164.

The Aktiengesellschaft Weser was a shipyard in Bremen originally established in 1843 and converted to a stock company in 1872. It delivered numerous ships to the imperial navy but also built around 40 cargo and passenger ships before World War I. The ship Bremen IV was built in 1926 and won the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1929. During World War II the company concentrated on the production of war good, afterwards large tankers were produced until the shipyard eventually closed down in 1983 due to the oil crisis.

The Thüringen was a Helgoland class battleship of the Imperial Navy launched in 1909 and put into service in 1911. The other ships were all built on order from the Norddeutscher Lloyd. The Lothringen was a cargo ship delivered in 1906 for the service to Australia, the Imperial mail boats Goeben und Lützow were put into service in 1907/1908. Between 1924 and 1932, the Lützow was used for cruises, it was the first ship to have an aeroplane for sightseeing flights onboard, a luxury that only the most exclusive cruise ships of today can offer their passengers. D164 is the construction number of the cargo and passenger ship Berlin, the name had probably not been decided upon at the time the watch was engraved. The Norddeutscher Lloyd took delivery of the ship in April 1909, at a length of 189 m, it was the largest of the five ships.