Lot 67

Strasser & Rohde

An important Glashuette seconds precision regulator with regulator dial and Strasser spring impulse escapement

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This clock with the number 750 was unknown until now and therefore not listed in the Strasser & Rohde directory by Jürgen Ermert (PPU series volume 3); according to the consignor, it stood for a long time in the building of the watchmakers guild of Budapest. In the typical Strasser & Rohde case with the semicircular end - and, for winding, a lowerable front disc - is the movement with the filigree spring impulse escapement, which Strasser developed in the 1890ies; this also as a reaction to Riefler's successes with his novel free escapement. The original Strasser & Rohde pendulum with two cylinders and weight support plate corresponds optically fine with the laterally guided steel-sheathed weight. All in all, a significant and elegant piece of Glashütte precision clockmaking in best condition - at most, the dial needs a refresh.

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.
The last pendulum clock by Strasser & Rohde was delivered to the observatory in Greece on June 19, 1959. It was a large type B I clock with 24 hour dial, lateral weight guiding system, electrical contacts and a Riefler J-pendulum.