German silver Glashütte Ankerchronometer watch Circa 1900

Silver pocket watch manufactured in quality 1A
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An important, rare Glashütte Ankerchronometer, manufactured in quality 1A, circa 1900.
Silver case, tiered, polished, case design “Jürgens”, case maker’s punch mark F.E.St., gold hinges.
Enamel dial, Arabic Empire numerals, auxiliary seconds, 54h power reserve indicator, blued spade hands. ¾ Plate movement, frosted, gilt, signed, gold chatoned centre wheel, Guillaume gold screw compensation balance, florally hand engraved balance cock, index spring fine adjusting device, gold lever and escape wheel, chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Weight: 181 g
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Signed: Fridolin Stübner Glashütte in Sachsen
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This lever chronometer is one of only a few watches that are known to have been created by Fridolin Stübner in his own name.
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Fridolin Stübner Stübner was born on February 1, 1857; he started his working life at the age of 10 to support his mother and his younger brothers after his father’s death. At the age of 12, he worked for a gemstone setter named Gollmann and at 15 he began a four-year apprenticeship with the stone setter, G. Kretzschmar. Stübner also worked for the Richter company in Chemnitz (which produced drafting instruments), for tools manufacturers Boley in Esslingen, and, after his military service, for the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik in Geislingen. He then returned to Glashütte and worked for the movement maker Friedrich Weichold, where he specialized in the production of large pocket watches. In 1886 he began working for Dürrstein & Co. and remained there until 1889. By then Stübner already had a reputation as a great watchmaker. Without a doubt, Fridolin Stübner was the most important chronometer maker of his time in Glashütte. Reinhard Meis states that “Emil Lange chose well when he employed chronometer maker and engineer Fridolin Stübner, who, among other things, ran a chronometer workshop in Glashütte together with his brother Paul and who had created and regulated several instruments”. According to Meis, Stübner introduced a kind of “in house standardization” and devised new industry standard dimensions for marine chronometers that were taken over by the entire German chronometer production industry.