100th Auction
2019/11/15
Lot 34
A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte i/SA, Movement No. 99904, Case No. 99904, Cal. 43, 57 mm, 162 g, circa 1937
A historically important, heavy and large Glashuette hunting case minute repeating pocket watch in near mint condition, with chronograph and 30 min. counter, manufactured in quality 1A, sold on 03/11/1937 for the sum of 2564,25 Reichsmarks to company Adolf Lünser, Berlin, supplier to the Reich Chancellery - with Lange extract from the archives. The watch used to have a guarantee certificate issued by Adolf Lünser in 1937, of which only a picture still exists.
Case: 18k gold, case design "Royal à goutte", glazed movement, inner lid with a presentation engraving by Adolf Hitler "Mit besten Wünschen zum 12.3.1937". Dial: enamel. Movm.: 3/4 plate movement, 2 hammers / 2 gongs, gold screw compensation balance.
According to Martin Huber’s "Lange-Liste", Lange & Söhne only ever produced about 50 pocket watches with minute repeater and chronograph function. This watch ( listed on page 211) is in near mint condition and has clear and appealing repeater sound.
The "Hitler watches"
The history of the so-called Hitler watches was researched and described in detail by Christian Pfeiffer-Belli and Waldemar Becker in the Dezember 2005 edition of the magazine "Klassik Uhren" (classic watches). According to this information, Adolf Hitler gave away only circa 70 Lange & Söhne timepieces as gifts on different occasions. This pocket watch with minute repeater and chronograph was presented to Minister of the Reich at the time Dr. Wilhelm Frick on his 60th birthday. It is one of the few complicated watches the Chancellor’s office ordered through the jeweller Lünser. Watchmaker and business man Adolf Lünser in Berlin had already signed a supplier’s contract with the German Armed Forces and the Navy in 1925. Before that, Lünser had worked for Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.
After the end of the war the watch was lost until it came up for auction for the first time in Germany in 1979; since then it has been kept in a safe deposit box, which explains the almost new condition of the timepiece.
A historically important, heavy and large Glashuette hunting case minute repeating pocket watch in near mint condition, with chronograph and 30 min. counter, manufactured in quality 1A, sold on 03/11/1937 for the sum of 2564,25 Reichsmarks to company Adolf Lünser, Berlin, supplier to the Reich Chancellery - with Lange extract from the archives. The watch used to have a guarantee certificate issued by Adolf Lünser in 1937, of which only a picture still exists.
Case: 18k gold, case design "Royal à goutte", glazed movement, inner lid with a presentation engraving by Adolf Hitler "Mit besten Wünschen zum 12.3.1937". Dial: enamel. Movm.: 3/4 plate movement, 2 hammers / 2 gongs, gold screw compensation balance.
According to Martin Huber’s "Lange-Liste", Lange & Söhne only ever produced about 50 pocket watches with minute repeater and chronograph function. This watch ( listed on page 211) is in near mint condition and has clear and appealing repeater sound.
The "Hitler watches"
The history of the so-called Hitler watches was researched and described in detail by Christian Pfeiffer-Belli and Waldemar Becker in the Dezember 2005 edition of the magazine "Klassik Uhren" (classic watches). According to this information, Adolf Hitler gave away only circa 70 Lange & Söhne timepieces as gifts on different occasions. This pocket watch with minute repeater and chronograph was presented to Minister of the Reich at the time Dr. Wilhelm Frick on his 60th birthday. It is one of the few complicated watches the Chancellor’s office ordered through the jeweller Lünser. Watchmaker and business man Adolf Lünser in Berlin had already signed a supplier’s contract with the German Armed Forces and the Navy in 1925. Before that, Lünser had worked for Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.
After the end of the war the watch was lost until it came up for auction for the first time in Germany in 1979; since then it has been kept in a safe deposit box, which explains the almost new condition of the timepiece.
Sold
estimated
60.000—80.000 €
Price realized
60.000 €