Unusual German gold precision pocket watch Circa 1918

Kenmerk: TA3927
Diameter: 53 mm

Estimate: € 3.000 - 5.000
Price sold: € 2.050

Gold watch with high-quality movement
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An unusual German 18 carat yellow gold hunting cased precision pocket watch with high-quality movement, circa 1918. A solid, polished case, hinged back, rope engraved central band matching the outer case. Hinged cuvette with dedication inscription. White enamel dial, black painted Roman hours, an outer minute track with gold five-minute numerals, subsidiary seconds and blued steel spade hands. Rhodium-plated movement, cut and compensated bimetallic balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and position, four jewels in gold screwed chatons, blued steel hairspring, micro regulation. Case, dial and movement signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm

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Thickness: 14 mm
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Signed: D. Gruen & Sons Dresden
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The Gruen Watch Company was formerly one of the largest watch manufacturers in the United States. It was in business from 1894 to 1958 and was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1894 by German-born watchmaker Dietrich Grün, who changed the spelling of his name to Gruen because the letter ü does not exist in English. Gruen was born in 1847. At 15, he was sent away from home to become a watchmaker’s apprentice. Later he worked in Switzerland for three years before going to the United States.

In 1874, he took out a patent for a safety pinion for pocket watches which prevented damage to the watch movement if the watch’s mainspring broke, U.S. Patent 157.913. In partnership with W.J. Savage, the son of a prominent watchmaker and businessman from Columbus, Ohio Gruen started the Columbus Watch Manufacturing Company in 1876. Initially, the company imported and finished watch movements imported from Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. The movements featured Gruen’s 1874 safety pinion design. In 1882, the company was refinanced and reorganized under the name Columbus Watch Company and started manufacturing their movements directly in the U.S.A. During the Panic of 1893, the shareholders forced Gruen out of the company.

In 1894, Gruen founded a new company in partnership with his son Frederick G. Gruen, D. Gruen & Son. Father and son designed a series of pocket watch movements which were manufactured by the German watchmaking firm of Paul Assmann and incorporated with an escapement designed by Moritz Grossmann. In 1897, as another son, George J. Gruen became an additional partner, the name was modified again. The company moved to Cincinnati in 1898.

In 1900, the company’s name was changed to D. Gruen, Sons & Co. It became partially a Swiss company. The movements were no longer made in Glashütte, Germany, but in Switzerland again. 1903, a subsidiary was formed, the Gruen Watch Manufacturing Company, located in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Dietrich Gruen died in 1911.

Signed: D. Gruen & Sons Dresden