HISTORY OF glashütte

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Glashütte was first mentioned in a document in the Meissen monastery’s matriculation of 1346. Therefore it was known as "Fergunna" (dark forest) in Old-High Germanic (similar to "Fergunja" (mountain) in Proto-Germanic), named for its natural occurrence in the region. There probably was a glassworks in the small settlement, which was destroyed during the Hussite attack on the region around 1429 and was not rebuilt. Secondly "Hütte" can be connected to "Hüttenwesen" (metallurgy), which is process for the production of metals or certain alloys from ores. Mining in Glashütte began with the discovery of silver ore in 1490 and in the following centuries there was intensive mining. 

During and after the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) and the Great Northern War (1700–1721) destruction and epidemics like the plague swept the country and Glashütte was not spared either. A serious crisis in Saxony in the ore mining had already become apparent in the run-up to the Thirty Years' War: during the first phase it was the enormous need for money that could no longer be covered by the declining profits from mining and metallurgy, then mining came to a standstill. Inflation, need and misery determined the existence in these decades and the only source of income for the people in Glashütte was straw weaving, especially since the mountain location only allowed a sparse agriculture.

Over the next decades, other watchmakers followed his lead, and the town became known for its high-quality watches. Born in 1826, Moritz Grossmann began his apprenticeship as a watchmaker at the age of 14 and went on to establish his own watchmaking workshop in Glashütte in 1854. With his innovative approach to watchmaking, he became a renowned watchmaker, who played a significant role in the development of the watchmaking industry in Glashütte. Several new techniques and inventions were developed by him, including the Grossmann balance wheel, which was designed to improve the accuracy of mechanical watches. From 1866 to 1878 Moritz Grossmann was committed to the welfare of the town of Glashütte, later also as a representative of the Royal Saxon parliament. During this period he initiated the German School of Watchmaking in Glashütte in 1878. Grossmann's legacy lives on through Moritz Grossmann Uhren GmbH, which continues to produce high-quality, precision watches in the tradition of its founder.

In Imperial times (1871-1918), there were already excellent pocket observation watches (B-Uhren), large naval- and small torpedo boat chronometers, and the German troops already had wristwatches as so-called trench watches with a protective grid. During the World War I a gold collection campaign was launched to support the financing of the war (1914 to 1918), similar as during the War of Liberation in 1813. In 1916 this idea was revived and it became a quasi-patriotic duty to exchange one's private gold in the form of coins, jewlery and pocket watch cases for an exchange of worthless paper money (due to raging inflation) and iron. So it is not surprising that, for example, valuable Glashütte pocket watch movements from A. Lange & Söhne, which were originally cased in heavy gold cases can still be found in simple iron cases.

(Picture: Pocket watch from A.Lange & Söhne where the gold case was exchanged for an iron case during World War I, by glashuetteuhren.de)

It is no secret that watches for the military were designed and built in Glashütte during the second world war. Almost every company in Germany was forced to take part in war rearmament from 1933-1945. A large part of the watches came from Glashütte, especially from A. Lange & Söhne. The Aviation Ministry had aircraft clocks, some with a chronograph function, large pilot's observation watches with pocket watch movements and central seconds (Lange) and pilot's chronographs (Tutima) developed. The German Maritime Observatory had set up a branch far from the coast in Gesundbrunnen near Glashütte for chronometer testing. Many marine watches were made on the coast (Chronometerwerke Hamburg, later Wempe). Towards the end of the war, marine chronometers were built as 'standard chronometers' by both Wempe and Lange. When they were no longer able to meet the required quantities, the pocket watch Caliber 48 was installed in a chronometer case, the famous "Lange B-Chronometer". In addition Swiss brands were also used, such as Ulysse Nardin, IWC or Vacheron & Constantin.

(Picture: Marine chronometer from A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte, WikiCommons)

In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the return of the private market economy, Walter Lange, the great-grandson of Adolph Lange reclaimed the heritage of his family and founded "Lange Uhren GmbH”, which was later transformed  into “A. Lange & Söhne” under the leadership of Günter Blümlein, LMH ("Les Manufactures Horologères" was a group of watch companies which was sold to Richemont in 2000). There was a gold rush atmosphere in the resurrection of watchmaking in Glashütte and a number of new companies were founded as well, such as: NOMOS Glashütte and Nautische Instrumente Mühle Glashütte. The so called "Treuhandanstalt (trust institution) took over the privatization of the GUB, which was privatized by the selling to Heinz W. Pfeifer and Alfred Wallner and since has the brand name "Glashütte Original" in 1994. To keep the important step of Glashütte tradition of precision watchmaking  alive, the historic astronomical observatory above Glashütte was reconstructed and the establishment as a chronometer testing center. 

(Picture: Walter Lange and the first Collection in 1994, by Lange Uhren GmbH)