108th Auction
2023/5/20
Lot 78
A. Lange & Söhne
An extremely rare deck watch for the military "Messbatterie" in near mint condition - ordered by the Führungshauptamt in Berlin - purpose-built watch with seconds' device in mirror writing and jumping fifths of a seconds indication - with extra long leather strap, Lange & Söhne certificate of the watch museum Glashuette and reference book "Militäruhren" (military watches) by Konrad Knirim
Sold
estimated
25.000—45.000 €
Price realized
20.000 €
specific features
Case
Platinin, matted grey, push back, oversized leather strap.
Dial
Matted black, luminous Arabic/Roman numerals (re-lumed), centre seconds, outer minute scale 5-55, inner hour scale in mirror writing 5-55, fifths of a seconds' indication, luminous blued steel lance hands (re-lumed).
Movement
Manual.
Case no.210444
Cal.48.1
Diam.65 mm
Circa1941
Ctry.Germany
In 1940 the "Waffen- und Geräteamt" Berlin (Weapons and Equipment Office Berlin) ordered the company Lange & Soehne to develop a deck watch for the "Messbatterie", based on the Luftwaffe watch B but with a larger diameter. For photographic purposes the seconds numerals were to be added in mirror writing too. After some silver-cased prototypes, ten watches per month were to be delivered starting in March 1941.
In November 1941 Lange & Soehne produced 21 of these watches in platinin cases with a diameter of 65 mm.