Important Swiss deck watch with 52-hour power reserve Circa 1924

Sterling silver open faced chronometer by Paul Ditisheim
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An important Swiss sterling silver open faced deck watch with 52-hour power reserve, circa 1924. 4/5 Plate movement, Ditisheim’s movement type I, large Guillaume screw compensation balance. Matt silvered dial Roman hours, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and power reserve indicator at 12. Plain case. Dial signed Paul Ditisheim La Chaux-de-Fonds and numbered, case signed Paul Ditisheim and numbered, cuvette signed Paul Ditisheim Co Manufacturers La Chaux-de-Fonds 332 State Prizes and numbered, movement signed Paul Ditisheim La Chaux-de Fonds Switzerland The highest records at Kew Teddington and Swiss Observatories and numbered, case and movement with matching numbers. Comes with an Extract from the chronometer Archives by Andreas Hidding.
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Diameter: 65 mm
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Weight: 275 g
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Signed: Paul Ditisheim La Chaux-de-Fonds
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This timepiece is one of a very small series of the most impressive precision pocket watches ever built. It took part in a chronometer test at the observatory in Neuchâtel in 1924, in the category for pocket chronometers 1st class.
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Movement calibre type I. This type of movement with its calibre designed for stability and highest precision seems to be the one Ditisheim entered in most of the many competitions they took part in (categories deck chronometers and pocket chronometers 1st class, according to the Neuchâtel observatory competition terms). So far 20 watches with this calibre are known. These watches achieved superb positionings in the category of deck chronometers around 1910/1925 in Neuchâtel.
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Paul Ditisheim was born in 1868 in La Chaux-de-Fonds the historic birthplace of the watchmaking industry, into the small social circle of industrialist families that led the Swiss watch industry of the time. He was a member of the well-known Ditisheim family, the founders and owners of Vulcain. A watch brand enjoyed by American presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. Paul did his apprenticeship at the watchmaking school in La Chaux-de-Fonds, before working in Ponts-de-Martel, Berlin, Paris and Rotherham near Coventry. He worked at his family’s company until 1892 when he opened his own workshop and founded the brands Solvil of which the timepieces were often signed Paul Ditisheim and Titus of which the watches were generally marked separately. Ditisheim was one of the most famous makers of watches and chronometers, who did most of his research and his publications in the field of precision timekeeping. He also worked closely with Physics Nobel prize winner Charles-Edouard Guillaume and has been considered the father of modern chronometers. He presented his watches in many exhibitions. Paul Ditisheim died in 1945, leaving a legacy of technical excellence and design that has renewed the reputation of Swiss Made.