Geneva, Nov 10, 2024
LOT 421
A. LANGE & SÖHNE, GERMANY, EARLY DUAL-TIME-ZONE 1ST QUALITY LEVER CHRONOMETER MADE IN 8 EXAMPLE, 18K PINK GOLD
CHF 20,000 - 40,000
HKD 180,000 - 360,000 / USD 23,200 - 46,400 / EUR 21,300 - 42,500
Sold: CHF 25,000
A very fine, large and important 18k pink gold, manual wind hunting-cased pocket watch, 1st quality lever chronometer, dual-time zone with four hands from the center, steel blue Louis XV hands with unusual hand setting mechanism with lever in the bezel and for the second time zone gold Louis XV hands setting from the back with a key, with unusual micrometer index adjustment and Lange's patented system for the removal of the mainspring barrel.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 3-6 |
Good Slightly oxidized |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Brand A. Lange & Söhne, Germany
Year Sold in 1888, for 787 Reichsmark
Movement No. 18380
Case No. 18380
Diameter 57 mm.
Caliber Lange calibre, 20''', 1st quality, frosted gilt, three-quarter plate, jeweled to the third wheel, six in gold screwed chatons, winding with Lange's patented system for the removal of the mainspring barrel, straight-line lever escapement with gold pallet fork and gold escape wheel, Lange cut bimetallic balance with gold screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, diamond endstone, engraved balance cock, unusual rack and pinion micrometer regulator index, unusual hand setting mechanism with lever in the bezel for the first time-zone, the second time zone hands set from the back.
Signature Dial, case and movement
Notes
The rack and pinion micrometer regulator index is a type rarely seen and usually only found on their best chronometers.
The rarest feature of this watch however, is that it is for two time zones, both pairs of hour and minute hands fitted to the center and yet each set is independently adjustable. The adjustment is facilitated by yet another very interesting mechanism, to set the first time zone hands, a lever is engaged in the bezel; after the hands have been set, the winding crown must be depressed, which then returns the lever to its original position and the crown returns to winding mode. The second time zone hands are set from an arbor above the center wheel of the movement.
This watch was made at a time before the adoption of hourly time zones but also at a time when the subject of time zones was being addressed. It is probable that Lange made this watch with the thought of producing a commercial watch that would be of use to travelers when the time zone system was inevitably adopted.
Time zones were first proposed for the entire world by Canada's Sir Sandford Fleming in 1876 as an appendage to the single 24-hour clock he proposed for the entire world (located at the center of the Earth and not linked to any surface meridian). In 1879 he specified that his universal day would begin at the anti-meridian of Greenwich (now called 180°),while conceding that hourly time zones might have some limited local use. He continued to advocate his system at subsequent international conferences. In October 1884, the International Meridian Conference did not adopt his time zones because they were not within its purview. The conference did adopt a universal day of 24 hours beginning at Greenwich midnight, but specified that it "shall not interfere with the use of local or standard time where desirable". Nevertheless,mostmajor countries had adopted hourly time zones by 1929.
Engraved cuvette: “Adele ihrem lieben Henry, Weihnachten 1888”