German quarter repeating open faced lever watch Circa 1898

Gold lever watch by Union Dürrstein
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A fine, German precision pocket watch with a quarter-repeater, circa 1898.
Very fine, signed precision lever movement with quarter-hour repeater, wolf teeth, and calibre Le Coultre. Perfectly preserved enamel dial with Roman radial hours, outer minutes track, blued steel spade hands, and subsidiary dial for the seconds. Engine turned 14 carat gold case, case number, and dust cover with dedication from 1898.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 91 g
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Signed: Union Dürrstein Dresden
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Union Glashütte
On January 1, 1893, Johannes Dürrstein founded the watch factory Union in Glashütte, parallel to his Dresden watch wholesale business. The company has been based at Hauptstrasse 41 since 1899. Julius Bergter is the director of the company. In the same year, Dürrstein presented and sold a Grande Complication at the world exhibition in Chicago. In 1895The Grande Complication shown in Chicago will be presented in a modified form as an anniversary watch to mark the 50th anniversary of the Glashütte watchmaking industry. It is the first Grande Complication built in Glashütte and features a chronograph rattrapante with jumping seconds, 30-minute counter, perpetual calendar, flashing seconds, moon phase, minute repeater, grande and petite sonnerie. A total of six copies will be produced later. Until 1925, the company manufactured genuine, fully-fledged Glashütte watches that were of the same quality as those of Lange and Assmann. The figurative mark in cases of the Glashütte watch factory Union is from 1894 a Greek temple with three columns. The “Glocken-Union” brand watches made in Switzerland were offered alongside the Union Glashütte watches for a long time. The “Union Glashütte” brand was revived in 1996 and is now part of the Swatch Group. In addition to Union Glashütte pocket watches, there were also Glashütte pocket watches from the Reform D+C Glashütte brand. Only a few examples of these clocks are known.