A Service Award Cross was an award for long-time service as a civil servant or member of the military. Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 had a service cross for 25-years service for officers as well as service awards in the form of buckles for nine-, 15 - and 25-years' service in the active Army.

In addition, there was a Landwehr

Landwehr

Landwehr, or Landeswehr, is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large scale, low strength fortifications...

 Service Award in two categories: a cross for 20-years service by officers and a buckle for 12-years' service by officers and men of the Landwehr if they took part in a campaign or had served at least three months on active service convened for an extraordinary initiative.

Similar rules and orders - mostly in Prussian-like orders - were produced in the kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony. Even in the Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

, the Third Reich and other states there were distinctions for long periods of service. The German Federal Republic

German Federal Republic

"German Federal Republic" was one of the derogatory terms used by the communist German Democratic Republic to refer to the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1950s until 1968, when they started using the propaganda term "BRD"....

had service awards, not restored on German unification.