German heavy 18K gold A1 lever with Guillaume balance Circa 1902

Gold hunting cased keyless pocket watch
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A very fine and heavy German, 18 carat pink gold hunting cased keyless wind pocket lever chronometer watch with Guillaume balance in A1 quality, circa 1902. Accompanied by the original fitted box with the original guarantee certificate and seller papers from 1902.
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Polished case with monogram on the front cover and hinged gold cuvette. Push the button on top of the pendant to open the front cover.
Three piece white enamel dial with Arabic numerals, outer minute track with red Arabic five minute markers, sunk subsidiary seconds dial. Gold Louis XVI hands. Glashütte 3/4-plate glazed frosted gilt movement, 16 jewels in screwed gold chatons, straight line Glashütte escapement, gold escape wheel and pallet fork, Guillaume balance with gold timing screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan neck micrometre regulator. Solid polished case, hinged gold cuvette. Dial, case and movement signed.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Weight: 158 g
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Signed: Uhrenfabrik  Union, Glashütte in Sachsen
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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.
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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.
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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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Contains an estimated 75 grams of 18 carat gold.
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Reference: 0050000