A. Lange & Söhne

An important Glashuette hunting case pocket watch - LEVER CHRONOMETER - with independent jumping seconds mechanism "seconde morte", manufactured in quality 1A, sold on August 26th, 1884 to Dr. B. Reis, Trier for 733,50 marks, formerly with rating certificate of the observatory Leipzig - with Lange extract from the archives

Sold

estimated

25.000—40.000 €

Price realized

31.300 €

specific features

Case

18 K pink gold, engraved monogram.

Dial

Enamel.

Movement

3/4 plate movement, applied "seconde morte"-mechanism, large gold screw compensation balance.

Case no.17289

Cal.43

Diam.54 mm

Circa1884

Ctry.Germany

Wt.134 g

According to Martin Huber "Die Lange-Liste", this is the only lever chronometer with a "seconde morte" mechanism ever manufactured by A. Lange & Söhne!
This watch is recorded in "Die Lange-Liste" by Martin Huber, Munich 2000, p. 52 and 131.

Jumping seconds mechanism or "seconde morte"
Lange felt that the readability of the jumping auxiliary seconds was not satisfactory in a pocket watch, so he started following another course. By 1867 he had designed a mechanism which allowed an independent large central seconds hand to jump every second. The hand had usually a stop device but could not be reset to zero. 1877 his sons filed a patent for a slightly modified version of A. Lange's mechanism (no. 182). This seconds mechanism on a 3/4 plate created a precision watch which had the indication system of an astronomical pendulum clock but was portable.