Rare German pink gold pocket watch with calendar Circa 1900

Gold hunting cased pocket watch by Dürrstein / Union “Bell”
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A rare German hunting cased pocket watch with calendar according to the patent Fleischhauer by Moritz Grossmann, circa 1900.
Polished, 14-carat pink gold case with a gold dome and a small wheel in the case band to set the months. Enamel dial with Arabic numerals, auxiliary seconds, two outer rings for indications of the date and the weekday and gold Louis XV hands. Signed, frosted, gilt 3/4 plate movement, “Patent No. 1319”, with screw compensation balance and counterpoised lever.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Weight: 120 g
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Signed: Dürrstein in Dresden / Union “Bell”
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Dürrstein & Comp. Dresden
The company ” Dürrstein & Comp. Dresden ” secured the exclusive distribution of the company A. Lange & Söhne for the German Empire. The market for Lange watches was limited due to their high price and so the growing need for high-quality pocket watches below this price range was increasingly covered by Swiss imports.

In order to remain competitive, after the death of Adolf Lange, the Dürrstein company urged its successors to offer them a cheaper pocket watch for this developing market.

In 1878 the time had come for this project to be implemented. Starting with serial number 20001, the first pocket watches developed and manufactured by A. Lange & Söhne came onto the market in a low price range. It is still a high-quality pillar movement with the signature “Deutsche Uhrenfabrikation Glashütte”.

The fact that no reference to the manufacturing company was initially made on these watches either on the dial or on the movement suggests that this production line did not necessarily correspond to the previous company philosophy of the Lange brothers.

Dürrstein also sold pocket watches from the brands ” Felsenburg “, ” Monopol “, ” Columbus “, ” Tavannes ” and ” Zenith “.
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Bells Union
Since the cheaper version of a Lange watch, which later became known with the signature DUF, still seemed too expensive to the Dürrstein company for further expansion and the Lange company was obviously not prepared to make any further concessions regarding a further reduction in quality, the company left In 1890, Dürrstein manufactured watches under its own brand “Union” for what they consider to be a promising market segment.

These were marked on the works and often in the cases by a bell with 5 stars ( bell union ). The dials are unsigned

The watches are of Swiss origin and not Glashütte watches. If the inscription “Glashütte” is found anywhere on a clock from the Glocken-Union, it is definitely a fake.