A. Lange & Söhne Seconde Morte movement No. 12617 from 1878 1A quality one of 250 worldwide

The subject of this offer is nothing less than a piece of watch history:

A pocket watch movement from Lange & Söhne Glashütte with the extremely rare complication "Seconde Morte" in 1A quality

In 1877, around 100 years after Jean-Moise Pouzait first developed the “Seconde-Morte” mechanism, A. LANGE & SÖHNE in GLASHÜTTE (Saxony) patented a seconds movement with a jumping hand in the form further developed by Richard Lange with only one mainspring barrel as Imperial Patent No. 182 on August 3, 1877.

In total, Lange & Söhne produced only 250 pocket watches with the "Seconde Morte" complication

Assuming that during the course of three major wars and the severe economic crisis of the 1920s, at least 50% of this small series, which was of course encased in solid gold cases, was melted down, as was obviously the case with the example in this offer, and thus usually also the movement was disposed of and destroyed, there are probably less than 100 examples of this uniquely rare Lange & Söhne movement left worldwide today.

There is no rarer movement from Lange & Söhne that was produced in series. In Martin Huber's "The Watches of Lange & Söhne in Glashütte," exactly 251 known examples of pocket watches with a "Seconde Morte" complication are listed. This does not mean that all known examples still exist today; it is only known that they were once built and existed.

The almost "official" website "Glashütte Watches" also states that a total of approximately 250 pocket watches with the Seconde Morte complication were built by Lange & Söhne

The movement number 12615 of this example is not explicitly mentioned in the standard work "The Watches of Lange & Söhne in Glashütte" by Martin Huber, presumably because the existence of this rare artifact, which had probably been lying in a drawer somewhere for decades, was simply not known.

However, in Martin Huber's standard work, 6 examples of the first small series of pocket watches with Sekonde Morte complication are listed from the movement number 12609 to 12614. The example of this offer, with the directly following movement number, represents the 7th example of this small series.

One of these 100 still existing copies is currently offered in excellent condition with an archive extract on eBay for €39,000.

Description of the "Seconde Morte" innovation of 1877 (patent filing) by Richard Lange from the original patent specification (source: Glashütter Uhren):

Since Adolf Lange found the legibility of the small, running second hand unsatisfactory for certain, most likely scientific, purposes, he had already developed a mechanism for a "jumping second" in the mid-1860s. However, only a few movements were produced using this system.

The name "dead second" or in French "Seconde-Morte" comes from the fact that the hand remains in a rest position from one second step to the next.

In 1877, around 100 years after Jean-Moise Pouzait first developed the “Seconde-Morte” mechanism, A. LANGE & SÖHNE in GLASHÜTTE (Saxony) patented a seconds movement with a jumping hand in the form further developed by Richard Lange with only one mainspring barrel as Imperial Patent No. 182 on August 3, 1877.

" The present invention relates to a new second movement (Seconde morte), which differs advantageously from the known mechanisms of this type both by a substantial simplification of the device itself and of its arrangement in the entire clockwork.

The large wheel b sits loosely on the strong top pivot a of the so-called small bottom pinion; it is held in place by a steel punch ground into the upper end of the pivot a. A small gold wheel with ratchets is firmly connected to the latter, which rotates simultaneously with the small bottom pinion. The connection between the ordinary clockwork and the second mechanism is established by two springs e ¹ , e ² screwed onto the aforementioned wheel b, namely by the gemstones f ¹ , f ² set in the end pieces of the springs being placed between the teeth of the gold wheel d.

The large wheel b is in engagement with a 12-tooth pinion g passing through the minute pinion, as is d

The wheel h sitting on the axis of the latter with a smaller 7-pinion i, furthermore the wheel h connected to the latter engages in the 6-pinion l, which makes a full revolution every second.

In order to achieve the jump of the second hand, which starts from the center of the dial, exactly from one second mark to the next, a small lever m is connected to the last-mentioned 6-point pinion l, one end of which engages a star o of six teeth located on the axis n of the so-called escapement wheel.

The star temporarily holds the lever m and thus the pinion l or the second wheel, only releasing the lever after one second has elapsed, whereupon it completes one revolution, then places its long end against the next tooth of the star, makes another full revolution after the expiration of the following second, and so on.

When the second mechanism is stopped by the lever r, which rests against the lever m with a pin, the aforementioned gears or wheels under the bridge q as well as the wheel b come to a standstill, and the springs e, together with the jewels f ¹ and f ^2, fall alternately from the ratchet teeth of the gold wheel d.

The axes of the wheels i, k, l, m, o belonging to the second mechanism are mounted on the one hand in the so-called plate p, and on the other hand in the bridge q screwed onto the latter; the same applies to the uppermost part of the axes of the wheels g and h.

The advantages of this described second movement device are based on:

1. in the relatively simple construction, as the entire clockwork has only one spring lever F;

2. in the fact that when the second mechanism is disengaged, whereby the teeth of the gold wheel d alternately jump out from under the stones f of the springs, the useful power acting in the clock is neither increased nor decreased, and the regular running of the clock is in no way disturbed;

3. in the complete elimination of the annoying, so-called pointer gap (i.e. the dead movement of the hands) caused by this construction; since here the minute hand is directly connected to the so-called large ground pinion, a gear transmission is therefore not even agile;

4.a) the possibility of easily fitting the device to any three-quarter platinum movement;

b) in making it easier to remove the second mechanism without having to disassemble the watch, and possibly in the possibility of completely removing the second mechanism without damaging the appearance of the watch

Description:

Movement diameter: 43mm, Lange & Söhne 1A quality with diamond capstone, screwed chatons and Geneva stripe cut

The movement corresponds in all details to the drawing of the Lange & Söhne Seconde Morte movement from the patent specification of August 1877 shown in the offer photos and is undoubtedly original in all its components

Hands and dial are no longer present

- the work seems to be complete

- Elevator shaft is still present

- Under the large bridge, a small piece sticks out and across that doesn't belong there. It doesn't appear to be broken or damaged, but rather displaced or "slipped out."

- Spring appears to be intact, but sits crooked

- the work appears to be able to be restored to working order

All information provided above is provided by a (virtually) layperson without guarantee. The work appears to be complete and repairable. You only get what you see in the pictures!