German 18K gold open faced lever chronograph Circa 1896

Gold chronograph by A. Lange & Söhne
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An 18 carat gold open faced quality 1A chronograph Glashütte lever pocket watch, circa 1896. Sold on July 8th, 1896 to Jos. Goldschmidt in Frankfurt a.M. for 569 Mark. The watch features a lever escapement, gold screw compensation balance, and ¾ plate movement. It comes with a white enamel dial that displays black Arabic hours, red Arabic minutes, and sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. The plain case has a monogram on the back, while the gold cuvette is engraved with a presentation design. The watch is accompanied by an Extract from the Archives, and the dial, case, and movement all have matching numbers. The dial is signed, the case is numbered, and both the case and movement are signed and numbered.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 111 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden
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Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded A. Lange & Söhne. He was born in 1815 as the son of Johann Samuel Lange. His parents separated when he was young, and another family adopted him. However, this family allowed him to receive a proper education. In 1829, he joined the Technical University of Dresden and learned from Christian Friedrich Gutkaes, the maker of the famous five-minute clock in the Dresden Opera House and the court watchmaker. Lange excelled in his apprenticeship and worked as Gutkaes’ assistant for over two years. 

In 1837, Lange decided to learn watchmaking from the best and went to Paris, Switzerland, and England. He spent four years in Paris with the master watchmaker Winnerl, a student of Breguet. Upon returning to Dresden in 1841, he took over Gutkaes’ business. He had the ambition to bring prosperity to the Erzgebirge region of Glashütte by building a watchmaking industry and creating 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. After that, he encouraged his apprentices to start their specialized firms in Switzerland. 

Lange 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, Ferdinand Adolph Lange retired in 1868, having given the reins to his sons, Richard and Emil Lange. 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 passed away in 1875. In 1948, the post-war Soviet administration nationalized the company’s property, and the Lange brand ceased to exist. However, in December 1990, following German reunification, the founder’s great-grandson Walter Lange, together with watch industry executive Günter Blümlein, restored the company with the assistance of several Swiss watch manufacturers, including the International Watch Company (IWC) and Jaeger-LeCoultre. 

A. Lange & Söhne now operates from Glashütte and sells its wristwatches globally. Like IWC, the company is a member of the Richemont group. Today, the company’s headquarters are located in Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s spacious house that was built adjacent to the factory.