Lot 68

Deutsche Uhrmacherschule Glashütte

Emil Reichard

An extremely rare pocket watch with 24h indicator manufactured in quality 1A, one of two watches ever made at the Glashütte watchmaking school with 24h display

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Sensational set from the estate of watchmaker Emil Reichard, who attended the German Watchmaking School in Glashütte from 1926 to 1929.
The many surviving documents illustrate the career of the later master watchmaker Emil Reichard, who was born in Bremerhaven on August 9, 1908. Starting with his leaving certificate from the secondary school in Geestemünde in 1925, there are documents of his commercial apprenticeship in Bremerhaven until 1926 and his work in the watchmaker's workshop of his father Karl Reichard in Wesermünde in 1930, as well as his employment at the Städtische Werke Bremerhaven until his military service in 1939 in Swinemünde.
He obtained his master craftsman's certificate, which is also available here, in Bremen in 1932.
The highlight of these apprenticeship years was certainly the time he spent at the German Watchmaking School in Glashütte. His great talent was evident from the very beginning, so that in 1928 he was awarded the Georg Jacob Jubilee Foundation's tuition exemption - a great honor, "as it is only awarded to well qualified students or members of the trade who give reason to hope that they will one day become valuable forces for the watchmaking trade". On the original graduation certificate with very good grades we see, among others, the signatures of the great Glashütte teachers Helwig, Giebel and Rommershausen. Regarding the practical work it is stated: "In addition to the usual course work, he made the following from the raw parts himself: 1 anchor escapement model No. 3439, [...], 1 Glashütte anchor watch No. 3492 [...], 1 table chronometer No. 3605 size 53 mm with two-spring barrel drive & escapement."
These masterpieces are not only significant in the context presented; they are also to be considered absolute rarities independently: A sidereal time regulated hunting case pocket watch with 24 hour dial, made in 1A quality, in a silver case by Karl Richter, and a small ship's chronometer with two barrels and spring chronometer escapement, plus the large anchor escapement model.
Such an extensive collection up to the "Bierzipfel" of the student association Saxonia (nickname Neptun) might be unique even for the generally well-documented Glashütte conditions; together with the escapement model, pocket watch and chronometer, they form a collector's item of the first rank for lovers of the Glashütte watch industry.