94th Auction

2016/11/12

Lot 15

A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte i/SA, "1815 Mondphase", Movement No. 14190, Case No. 124091, Ref. 231.031, Cal. L943.1, 36 mm, Height 8 mm, circa 2000
A gentleman's extremely rare Glashuette wristwatch with moon phase and applied constellation - limited edition no. 91 of 250 pieces, "Hommage à Emil Lange" (1849-1922), sold on 04/01/2000 - with original box, operating instructions, setting pin and guarantee
Case: 18k pink gold, glazed movement, edition serial numbers on the caseback, 18k "Lange" pink gold buckle. Dial: black. Movm.: 4/5 plate movement, 45h power reserve, Glucydur screw balance.
Thousand-year moon phase mechanism
What will first and foremost fascinate the clock enthusiast is the precision with which the Lange designers have calculated the transmission of the moon phase indication for exactly 1000 years to come - the engineers did not settle for the conventional moon phase calculation which assumes that the moon travels around the earth in approximately 29 days, but tried to adapt to the actual astronomical conditions; these are based on the exact time of the synodic month, which is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds. The "Big Dipper" with its seven similar sized stars is depicted with gold appliques. Next to the centrally located star "Mizar" is the smaller "Alcor" (Arabic: saddles), which in ancient times was used as a popular test object for excellent sharpness of vision.
This means that the “1815 MONDPHASE” follows the same principle of calculation as the very large astronomical clocks do.
Source: "Die Legende ist wieder Uhr geworden" by Lange Uhren GmbH, Glashuette 1999.

Sold

estimated
17.00025.000 €
Price realized
21.500 €