Historically important German repeating lever chronograph Circa 1937

Gold minute repeating full hunter chronograph by A. Lange & Söhne 
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A historically important, heavy and large German 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating chronograph lever pocket watch with a 30-minute counter, circa 1937. Sold on November 3rd, 1937 for the sum of 2564,25 Reichsmarks to company Adolf Lünser, Berlin, supplier to the Reich Chancellery. Glazed, quality 1A 3/4 plate movement, two hammers, two gongs, gold screwed compensation balance. White enamel dial with black Arabic hours and red Arabic minutes, subsidiary seconds at 6, 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock. Plain case, Royal à goutte, the inner lid with a presentation engraving by Adolf Hitler Mit besten Wünschen zum 12.3.1937. Dial signed, movement and case numbered. Comes with an Extract from the Archives and a picture of a guarantee certificate issued by Adolf Lünser in 1937.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Weight: 162 g
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Signed: A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte i/SA
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According to Martin Huber’s ‘Lange-Liste’, Lange & Söhne only ever produced about 50 pocket watches with minute repeater and chronograph function.
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The ‘Hitler’ watches. The history of the so-called Hitler watches was researched and described in detail by Christian Pfeiffer-Belli and Waldemar Becker in the December 2005 edition of the magazine ‘Klassik Uhren’ (classic watches). According to this information, Adolf Hitler gave away only circa 70 Lange & Söhne timepieces as gifts on different occasions. This pocket watch with minute repeater and chronograph was presented to the Minister of the Reich at the time Dr Wilhelm Frick on his 60th birthday. It is one of the few complicated watches the Chancellor’s office ordered through the jeweller Lünser. Watchmaker and businessman Adolf Lünser in Berlin had already signed a supplier’s contract with the German Armed Forces and the Navy in 1925. Before that, Lünser had worked for Lange & Söhne in Glashütte. After the end of the war, the watch was lost until it came up for auction for the first time in Germany in 1979. Since then it has been kept in a safe deposit box, which explains the almost new condition of this timepiece.
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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. 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. 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.