132 - A. Lange & Söhne - Torpedo Boat Chronometer

A. Lange & Söhne - Torpedo Boat Chronometer A very rare, small Glashütte torpedo boat chronometer with a 54-hour power reserve indicator Movm. No. 526, Cal. 56 mm, Dimensions 130 x 130 x 145 mm, circa 1925, Origin: Germany Case: Mahogany. Dial: Silvered. Movement: Brass movement, 56 mm, going barrel, spring-detent escapement based on Thomas Earnshaw’s design, nickel-steel Guillaume balance with 2 screws and 4 weights. This small-size chronometer is part of a series of torpedo boat chronometers that Lange & Söhne produced beginning in 1911 at the behest of the Imperial Naval Office in Berlin; no more than 65 of them had been produced by 1933. In R. Meis: A. Lange & Söhne (1997), Reinhard Meis quotes a brochure from the 1920s, which states: “The small-size marine chronometer has the same advantages as our large-size marine chronometers but is fitted with a simple barrel without a fusee.” Lange & Söhne did not produce torpedo boat chronometers again until near the end of World War II; however, those were based on the Category B pocket watch Caliber 48. Case: very good, slightly worn. Dial: very good, slightly oxidized. Movement: very good, in working order, cleaning recommended.