Lot 20

Strasser & Rohde

Cuba

An important Glashuette seconds precision regulator with regulator dial and Strasser spring impulse escapement, delivered to Cuba

Sold

This clock with the number 745 was unknown until now and is therefore not listed in the Strasser & Rohde directory by Jürgen Ermert (PPU series volume 3); according to the Spanish consignor, it resided in Cuba for considerable time. The solid long case is atypical for Strasser & Rohde - only a small proportion of Strasser's precision clocks were delivered as long case clocks. The clock is powered by a movement with filigree spring impulse escapement, which Strasser developed in the 1890s; this also as a reaction to Riefler's success with his novel free escapement. The original Strasser & Rohde pendulum with two cylinders and weight support plate matches the laterally guided steel-sheathed weight. All in all, a significant and elegant piece of Glashuette precision clockmaking in exquisite condition.

In 1875 Ludwig Strasser and Gustav Rohde founded the company "Strasser & Rohde" in Glashuette. It produced all differents kinds of precision pendulum clocks, among them clocks with inverted escapements. The product range also included marine chronometers, escapement models, precision tools, tachometers, time ball clocks, timer clocks for safes, pocket watches, coincidence clocks, stopwatches and other timers.
In 1879 Strasser began to devote most of his time to the German watch and clockmaking school in Glashuette and eventually left the company. When Rohde retired, Wilhelm Kreis took over the company. Paul Weiss leased the company from Kreis in 1918 and later took it over when Kreis died. While Kreis had still sold about 300 Strasser & Rohde precision pendulum clocks, only a handful of them were sold during the time of Paul Weiß.