The man who brought watches to Glashütte
In the year 1815, The Congress of Vienna conferred, Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo, and Ferdinand A. Lange was born. It was he who founded the German watchmaking industry in the town of Glashütte in Saxony. Ferdinand A. Lange was born on February 18, 1815, in Dresden. Following the separation of his parents, Lange was taken in by family friends, whose prosperity allowed him to study at Dresden’s Technical University. While still in school, at the age of 15, Lange began a watchmaking apprenticeship with the distinguished court clockmaker Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes. It was quickly discovered that Lange was skilled with precise craftsmanship.
Once he completed his internship, Lange moved to Paris, which was the capital of watchmaking at the time. There, he worked for the famous chronometer producer Joseph Thaddeus Winnerl and became a foreman in a prominent horological manufactory. But Lange was restless with his accomplishments and moved to England and Switzerland before finally returning to Germany in 1841. In 1842, he married the daughter of Gutkaes and also became a partner of Gutkaes’ company. Finally, in 1845, Lange established his own watch manufactory, which would later become celebrated far past Glashütte borders. On December 3, 1875, Ferdinand A. Lange passed away, leaving behind his watchmaking enterprise to his two sons, Richard and Emil.