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Lot Essay
With A. Lange & Söhne original Certificate in English and German, original fitted presentation box stamped Hoffmann y Zentner containing a spare main spring and two spare crystals. Furthermore delivered with A. Lange & Söhne Certificate and copy of the registers confirming that the present watch was sold on 2 December 1888 to Fa. Hoffmann & Zentner, Corrientes, Argentina, for the amount of 580 Mark.
This watch is a very fine example of one of A. Lange & Söhne's dead beat jumping seconds watches, preserved in very attractive, original overall condition. The rarity is enhanced by the unusual retailer signature, Hoffmann & Zentner in Corrientes, Argentina, found not only on the cuvette and movement of the watch but also on the cover of the presentation box supplied by A. Lange & Söhne.
As for Ferdinand Adolf Lange the readability of the small constant seconds for certain, most likely scientific, purposes wasn't a satisfactory solution, he developed already in the mid-1860s a "jumping seconds" mechanism. This initial system was used in an exceedingly small number of watches only. Ferdinand Adolf Lange's "seconde morte" was first introduced as one of Emil Lange's masterpieces and then improved by Richard Lange with the direct transfer of the jumping seconds from the centre.
The designation "dead seconds" or "Seconde Morte" in French comes from the fact that the second hand stops on each position while moving forward.
1877, some 100 years after Jean-Moise Pouzait's development of the first "Seconde Morte" system, A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte patented a jumping seconds mechanism, further developed by Richard Lange with only one going barrel, as Reich Patent no. 182 on 3 August 1877.
For the illustration of a comparable movement, no. 26'005, see A. Lange & Söhne. Eine Uhrmacherdynastie aus Dresden by Reinhard Meis, Band II, p. 222, pl. 716a.
This watch is a very fine example of one of A. Lange & Söhne's dead beat jumping seconds watches, preserved in very attractive, original overall condition. The rarity is enhanced by the unusual retailer signature, Hoffmann & Zentner in Corrientes, Argentina, found not only on the cuvette and movement of the watch but also on the cover of the presentation box supplied by A. Lange & Söhne.
As for Ferdinand Adolf Lange the readability of the small constant seconds for certain, most likely scientific, purposes wasn't a satisfactory solution, he developed already in the mid-1860s a "jumping seconds" mechanism. This initial system was used in an exceedingly small number of watches only. Ferdinand Adolf Lange's "seconde morte" was first introduced as one of Emil Lange's masterpieces and then improved by Richard Lange with the direct transfer of the jumping seconds from the centre.
The designation "dead seconds" or "Seconde Morte" in French comes from the fact that the second hand stops on each position while moving forward.
1877, some 100 years after Jean-Moise Pouzait's development of the first "Seconde Morte" system, A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte patented a jumping seconds mechanism, further developed by Richard Lange with only one going barrel, as Reich Patent no. 182 on 3 August 1877.
For the illustration of a comparable movement, no. 26'005, see A. Lange & Söhne. Eine Uhrmacherdynastie aus Dresden by Reinhard Meis, Band II, p. 222, pl. 716a.