A. Lange & Söhne pocket watch No. 41,000—made in Glashütte in 1900 and known as the Centennial Tourbillon—returned to Museum Bautzen in 2021, a century after it entered the collection. Stolen from a wartime evacuation depot in 1945, it resurfaced in a Sotheby’s auction announcement in 2019. Its return reunited a technically ambitious watch with the town whose museum had lost it.
What happened to the Centennial Tourbillon?
The watch was made by A. Lange & Söhne watchmaker Fridolin Stübner in Glashütte and presented by Emil Lange at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. Museum Bautzen says it was shown outside the competition as a demonstration of German watchmaking and engineering. The museum acquired it from the estate of collector Otto Weigang in 1921. After it was stolen during the final year of World War II, the watch reappeared in 2019 in an auction announcement by Sotheby’s. Bautzen contacted the auction house, and the sale did not proceed. The museum reacquired the watch in 2021 with support from public, foundation, corporate, private and museum funds. Museum Bautzen and A. Lange & Söhne recount the object’s return and history.
How the watch works
The Centennial Tourbillon combines a tourbillon with a fusee-and-chain drive. A tourbillon places the escapement in a rotating carriage; the fusee-and-chain system was designed to help even out the force delivered by the mainspring as it unwinds. Museum Bautzen describes the combined construction as a way to address rate inaccuracies. That is a description of the historical design, not a claim based on modern comparative testing.
The 2024 museum announcement gives the whole hunter-case watch a diameter of 59 mm. A 2022 museum account describes its movement as 43 mm across; these measurements refer to different parts of the watch.
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Enamel imagery and exhibition purpose
The cover bears an enamel miniature that the museum describes as a contemporary interpretation of Minerva, surrounded by symbols associated with crafts and timekeeping. Its Paris cityscape depicts the Seine and exhibition pavilions, tying the decoration to the watch’s 1900 presentation. On the case back, “1900” appears beneath “Tourbillon” and a rising sun. The object therefore served both as a mechanical demonstration and as an elaborately decorated exhibition piece.
A century in Bautzen, then a wartime disappearance
- 1900: Made and regulated in Glashütte; Emil Lange presented the watch at the Paris World Exhibition outside the competition, according to Museum Bautzen and A. Lange & Söhne.
- 1921: The watch entered Museum Bautzen’s collection from Otto Weigang’s estate. Weigang died in 1914; the transfer to the museum came later.
- 1945: The watch was stolen from an external storage site in Leisnig, where museum holdings had been moved for protection.
- 1976: A. Lange & Söhne says the watch reappeared in a Munich exhibition of historic Lange pocket watches organized by Martin Huber.
- 2019: It appeared in a Sotheby’s auction announcement. The auction did not proceed after Bautzen contacted the auction house.
- 2021: Museum Bautzen reacquired the watch with public, foundation, corporate, private and museum funding.
- 2022: The watch returned to Bautzen and was discussed at a public return ceremony. Then-Lord Mayor Alexander Ahrens called it “a piece of Saxony’s industrial history, a piece of Bautzen’s history.”
- May 19, 2024: The museum reported its first public presentation after reacquisition, in its permanent exhibition.
The dates reflect an important distinction: although Weigang died in 1914, the watch did not enter the museum immediately upon his death. The documented museum transfer took place in 1921.
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How rare is No. 41,000?
A. Lange & Söhne’s 2022 account says Martin Huber’s reference work Die Lange Liste describes twelve tourbillons made between 1892 and 1925. That is a count of watches described in the reference, not a verified total of production or surviving examples, and it does not establish that the list is exhaustive. It is safer to call No. 41,000 one of a small documented group than to label it the only example or assign it a precise production rank.
Can you see the Centennial Tourbillon at Museum Bautzen?
Museum Bautzen reported that the watch entered its permanent exhibition on May 19, 2024. That announcement establishes its display at that time, but not whether it remains on view today. Check the museum’s current exhibition information and visitor details before planning a visit.
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Further reading
A. Lange & Söhne identifies Martin Huber’s Die Lange Liste as a standard reference on complicated Lange pocket watches. It offers a route into the broader history of the maker’s complicated watches; current editions and availability are not established here.
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