German exquisite minute repeating pocket watch Circa 1890

Heavy minute repeating hunting cased pocket watch
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A German, heavy pink golden hunting cased watch with minute repeating, circa 1890. This exquisite pocket watch is part of a special edition of complicated watches that were produced for the German market in the late 19th century.  A 14k pink gold, hunting case, fine precision lever movement with minute repeater, white enamel dial, Arabic numerals,  bridge movement, 2 hammers / 2 gongs, gold screw compensation balance.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 146 g
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Signed: Union Dürrstein  Dresden
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At the beginning of his career Johannes Dürrstein worked with wholesaler Ludwig & Fries; in 1874, however, he established his own business together with his brother Friedrich. The company traded as Dürrstein & Co. of Glashütte and sold Swiss products as well as watches by A. Lange & Söhne. Nearly 20 years later, in 1893, Dürrstein founded the “Uhrenfabrik Union”. The watches produced in this manufactory were of outstanding quality and could be made to order with high value complications of all kinds. The range included pocket chronometers, tourbillons and perpetual calendars and usually came with a rating certificate from the Hamburg Observatory. Dürrstein always tried to satisfy the universally strong demand for high quality timepieces and mainly used premium Swiss movements which he bought and cased before selling them to his customers. Louis Audemars and Audemars Piguet are most likely to have been the main suppliers of ébauches to Dürrstein; between 1895 and 1912 Dürrstein purchased 35 of their movements, most of them with interesting complications. Gisbert L. Brunner, Christian Pfeiffer-Belli and Martin K. Wehrli provide details and background information on this business relationship and the watches in question in “Audemars Piguet”, pp. 52-55.