Culture - Saxony: A Historical Present
Worldtempus - 6 March 2013
Next month, the historical Mathematics Physics Salon housed in Dresden's Zwinger museum is scheduled to reopen after five years of refurbishment and rebuilding. It is home to what is probably the world's oldest collection of scientific timekeepers. The museum containing historical clocks and scientific instruments dates back to the sixteenth century, when it was established by Albert III, Duke of Saxony. It was, however, Elector August who actually began collecting the objects stored here, which include scientific instruments and tools in addition to timepieces and globes primarily from southern Germany, including Nuremberg and Augsburg. August the b (1694-1733), who pretty much coined Dresden and Saxony's predilection for art and technology, added to the collection with valuable instruments from throughout Europe, thus laying the cornerstone for Saxony's famous art of making instruments. As time went on, the curator of this museum was also put in charge of Saxon's standard time signal in addition to the upkeep of the just about 2,000 exhibition pieces spanning 800 years of technical history and 500 years of watchmaking.
A. Lange & Söhne and Glashutte Original, Saxony's premier watchmakers, are worthy successors to this grand tradition. A. Lange & Söhne is the modern incarnation of the original factory to put down roots in Glashutte in 1845. It was founded by Ferdinand Adolph Lange, royal clock- and watchmaker, whose aim it was to establish an entire watchmaking industry in the town nestled in the Erzgebirge (the Ore Mountains).
Several generations later, the company disappeared as such after World War II when the East German government expropriated the town's private companies and joined them in what was known as a combine - which remained in effect until Germany reunited in 1990. The successor to the combine in a reunited Germany became Glashutte Original, though A. Lange & Söhne was able to extract its name and set up business once again thanks to the diligent efforts of Lange's great-grandson, Walter Lange, and his business partner Gunter Blumlein.
Today, A. Lange & Söhne belongs to Richemont, while next-door-neighbor Glashutte Original has been under the umbrella of the Swatch Group since 2000. Both companies prosperously wave the flag of Saxon ingenuity and have introduced timepieces of extreme complexity and skill over the years using some traits in their movements that allow the keen observer to deduce that they are not Swiss in origin.
One such element is the three-quarter plate, which came into use in about 1864 thanks to Ferdinand Adolph Lange, helping the two-thirds plate to pass from frequent use in Glashutte. Both of these top plates are used in Saxony in place of individual Swiss-style bridges. The idea behind their use was to increase movement stability and decrease cost.
Today they are often decorated using Glashutte ribbing, which is very similar to the ubiquitous côtes de Geneve, but applied at a slightly different angle. And while Swiss movements are more often than not rhodium-plated, Glashutte-style movements generally have different coloring. Glashutte Original prefers to plate its brass movements with rhodium or sometimes gold, while A. Lange & Söhne uses untreated German silver, which emanates a unique hue all its own.
The reopening of the Mathematics Physics Salon is scheduled to officially take place on April 14. At this point the exhibits, which had been stored with A. Lange & Söhne during the reconstruction phase, will have been returned to their historical place on public exhibit.
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