The Mondani Collection of Rolex Wrist...

Geneva, May 14, 2006

LOT 823

?Grand & Petite Sonnerie Clockwatch ? Minute Repeating? A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte, I/SA, B/Dresden, No. 82019. Made circa 1905, sold in 1925 to Otto Pohland, Chemnitz, for 4000 Marks and resold to Adolf Lunser, Berlin, on December 24, 1934, for 2760 Marks. One of only four watches of this type made between 1883 and 1934. Extremely fine and very important, large, 18K gold, hunting-cased two-train clockwatch with grande and petite sonnerie striking and trip minute repeating. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 500,000 - 600,000

EUR 320,000 - 380,000 / USD 385,000 - 460,000

Sold: CHF 760,900

C. Four-body, heavy, ?Louis XV?, polished, the front cover engraved with a coat of arms and an engraved dedication ?In Herzlicher Freundschaft zum Weinachtsfest, 1934? on the interior, levers for strike/silent, grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie / petite sonnerie selection in the bezel. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel, three-piece, Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Black steel ?Spade? hands. M. 43 mm., 19???, 1A (first quality), rhodium plated, ?fausses-cotes? decoration, 21 jewels, two trains with tandem winding, the going train with screwed gold chatons, straight line lever escapement with gold escape wheel and pallet fork, Lange cut bimetallic compensation balance with peripheral gold adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, diamond endstone, micrometer adjustment to the regulator, striking and repeating on gongs, the repeating activated by a trip-slide on the band. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 60 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

The repeat mechanism is locked during the strike in passing and is released, as usual by a slide in the band. However, unlike most repeaters, this does not power the repeating work, the power in the barrel for the striking-train is sufficient for several operations of the minute repeating. Movement and strike are wound by turning the winding button in opposite directions. According to the records, Lange & Sohne made only four watches with grand and petite sonnerie striking and minute repeating. This watch appears to be the only example known in a Louis XV case. It cost 4000 Marks in 1925, making it the most expensive watch of its class and amongst the most expensive Lange watches ever made. The watch was sold by Lange again in 1934 to Adolf Lunser, a Berlin company who were the official suppliers to the German Government. Literature: ?A. Lange & Sohne, The Watchmakers of Dresden?, Reinhard Meis, Antiquorum Editions, 1999, p. 271. ?Die Lange Liste?, Martin Huber, Munich, 2000, p. 224. Provenance: Refer to Department.