Uhrenfabrik Union Glashütte bei Dresden was founded on Jan 1, 1893 by Dresden wholesaler Johannes Dürrstein, who wished to have his own manufacturing company. The trademark ?Union? was registered earlier. The organization and technical management was entrusted to Julius Bergter, who had worked for Dürrstein for many years previously. All financial and administrative functions were filled by the Dresden headquarters. The company very quickly became a leading German manufacturer of precision and complicated watches. In 1895, for the anniversary exhibition of the Glashütte industry, the Uhrenfabrik Union presented the most complicated German watch ever made (the ?Universal Uhr?). During its entire existence the company produced about 27,000 watches. Some, like the present one, were of outstanding quality. Certain watches sold by the company used ebauches bought in Switzerland, possibly featuring an escapement made in Glashütte. Such watches had cases punched with a bell surrounded by stars, the ones made entirely in Germany had cases punched with a ?portal? mark. The company made self-striking, dead-seconds watches, pocket chronometers, tourbillons, and perpetual calendar watches. John Graff (1836-1903) Was the most eminent enamel portrait miniaturist of the 19th century. He executed portraits of the most noble European families. He also worked for the Chinese and Indian markets, painting enamel portraits on watch cases for the Ferrero company. He signed: "J. Graff", "J.G.", or "Graff". His work is characterized by remarkable precision and sense of depth. Bibliography: Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, ?The watch was produced in the Lange factory by Master Stübner. The production of this timepiece took far more than one year. Stübner, as stated by the watchmaker Paul Pleissner, finished two other, similar pieces in Dresden. One of them belonged to Hitler, the other one to Henry Ford in America. He did not know of any other examples. I received the watch in 1926, in exchange for a painting which was valued at about 4,000 Gold-Marks. In 1930 Pleissner offered me 10,000 Marks for the watch; an American really wanted to have it. Thank God I refused the offer!? According to the present owner Peter Schultz never sold the watch and it remained in the same family until recently. It is interesting to note that Pleissner?s father, Robert Pleissner, the owner of one of Dresden?s largest stores, bought Lange tourbillon No. 65000 (on April 10, 1930) the same year that his son offered 10,000 for this watch. Lange made only twelve tourbillons, two of which were probably never finished. They were made over a period of 32 years, averaging about three years per tourbillon. The design was by Fridolin Stübner, who had just become director of Lange. The present watch shows his eagerness to impress. The carriage was based on a Swiss design of the 1860s, which was used at least once by Girard-Perregaux. The rest, however, was very much in the German watchmaking tradition. For the escapement he used an English spring detent, and everything was finished to the highest possible standard. The locking jewel has draw to assure safety of the action. It is, however, very slight ? just enough to ensure that the wheel locks firmly without requiring too much energy for unlocking. He jeweled the entire watch including the fusee, where he used a blue sapphire on the bottom pivot ? the one that has most friction. He employed a reverse fusee to equalize the torque on the escapement without excessive wear on the center wheel bushing (not to be confused with inverse fusee), a free-sprung balance spring with an over-tripping prevention device, a very cleverly designed up-and-down indicator, and made the cage very light and perfectly poised. Synopsis of Lange tourbillons: 30310Whereabouts unknown1892 30803Whereabouts unknown1894 34143The present lot1895 41000 @%Antiquorum, Oct. 14, 1990, lot 1831900 42501 @%Antiquorum, Oct. 15, 1978, lot 1671903 42502Lost in Brussels in 1910never sold 45501Meis, Lange, p. 2261901 64143The present lot1909 65000Meis, Lange, p. 2241912 82013Meis, Tourbillons, pp. 240-2411924 82014 Meis, Lange, p. 2271925 82015Probably not finished 82016Probably not finished The present watch, with its long and interesting history, and which conserves the original Lange repair receipt, is unique among Lange tourbillons. Its history can be traced from the moment it was made until the present day. It has always been considered an exceptional watch, perhaps because its owners knew that it was a highly desirable watch, even at the time. Proof of this is given in the above-cited note, which states that collectors such as Pleissner offered 10,000 Gold Marks for it in 1930. Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) German emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia from 1888 to the end of World War I in 1918. Wilhelm was the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederick (later Emperor Frederick III) and Victoria, the daughter of Queen Victoria. In 1888, at the age of 29, he became the third Emperor of Germany and the ninth King of Prussia, following the deaths, in rapid succession, of his grandfather and father. Within two years he had forced the resignation of Chancellor Otto Bismarck, leading to the abandon of the Chancellor?s cautious policies. Responsible for government appointments and commander in chief of the armed forces, Wilhelm was the only person in Germany who could ensure that military and diplomatic policies were in tune. During and immediately after World War I, he was criticrized for having instigated the war. However, his real failure was to encourage the views of Germany's bellicose ruling class instead of restraining them, at a time when German expansion made some form of conflict with the other great powers inevitable. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Wilhelm initially encouraged the Austrians to adopt an uncompromising line but then lost his nerve and was unable to stop his generals mobilizing their forces. While theoretically supreme commander, once at war he found himself excluded from decisions, but crippled chances of a compromise peace by encouraging the grandiose war aims of the generals and of many politicians. After Germany surrendered, he was forced to abdicate and left for the Netherlands, where he died at Doorn, in 1941