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Details
AN 18ct. GOLD HALF QUARTER REPEATING HUNTING CASED KEYLESS LEVER POCKET WATCH
M. Grossmann Glashutte n/Dresden, No.7101, circa 1880.
white enamel dial signed M. Grossmann Glashutte, Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds, blued steel hands, three-quarter plate damascened nickel finished movement signed and numbered M. Grofsmann Glashutte n/Dresden, No.7101, jewelled to the centre with screwed gold chatons, gold 'scape wheel and lever, bimetallic compensation balance with gold timing screws, blued steel spiral spring with overcoil, half-quarter repeating on two gongs operated by a slide in the band, gold cuvette with engraved inscription, engine turned case with milled band and sprung front cover, diameter 53mm.
M. Grossmann Glashutte n/Dresden, No.7101, circa 1880.
white enamel dial signed M. Grossmann Glashutte, Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds, blued steel hands, three-quarter plate damascened nickel finished movement signed and numbered M. Grofsmann Glashutte n/Dresden, No.7101, jewelled to the centre with screwed gold chatons, gold 'scape wheel and lever, bimetallic compensation balance with gold timing screws, blued steel spiral spring with overcoil, half-quarter repeating on two gongs operated by a slide in the band, gold cuvette with engraved inscription, engine turned case with milled band and sprung front cover, diameter 53mm.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Further details
The case of this watch is of American manufacture, it is original to the movement and carries the same number as the movement. These cases would appear to have been made under licence at a time when the import of precious metals was restricted. Nickel plated movements were for export to tropical or hunid climates as the plating gives better protection from humidity.Carl Moritz Grossmann 1826-1885 was born in Dresden and attended elementary school where he won a free placing at the Polytechnik, Dresden. In 1842 he commenced his apprenticeship with Friedrich Gutkas, where he met his lifelong friend and mentor Adolf Lange. After four years with Gutkas, he joined Moritz Krille, himself a former apprentice with Gutkas, who was established in Hamburg-Altona as a chronometer and regulator maker.Thereafter he spent five years in France, England, Spain, Belgium and Sweden studying his chosen profession, finally settling in Glashutte in 1854 where he manufactured regulators, chronometers and pocketwatches. On Lange's advice he also produced measuring instruments, special timers and precision tools, with which he supplied the Glashutte workshops.He was also a talented author of technical papers and, in 1864, amazingly won a 30 guinea prize awarded by the British Horological Institute on the 'Detached Lever Escapement', which he had presented in English. He went on to win a further prize from the Geneva Trade Council in 1869 for an article on 'The construction of a simple but mechanically perfect watch', in which he examined the traditional methods of Swiss, French, American and English watchmaking and presented Lange's ideas and methods so succinctly, that they were adopted by many in the Swiss watchmaking industry.His most important acheivement, however, was the founding of the German school of Clock and watchmaking in Glashutte in 1878, which offered apprentices the possibility of learning their craft in practical and theoretical studies independant from the hitherto dominance of the Swiss schools.