Elegant Swiss 18K gold minute repeating lever watch Circa 1880

Gold repeating full hunter by LeCoultre
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An elegant Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating lever pocket watch, circa 1880. Bridge movement, lever escapement, two hammers, two gongs, screw compensation balance. White enamel dial with Arabic hours, outer minute divisions and sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. Plain case. Case numbered.
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Diameter:  55 mm
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Weight: 124 g
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Signed: LeCoultre & Co Swiss
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LeCoultre & Cie. In 1833, following his invention of the machine to cut watch pinions from steel, Antoine LeCoultre (1803-1881) founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier, Switzerland where he honed his horological skills to create high-quality timepieces. In 1844, he invented the world’s most precise measuring instrument at the time, the millionomètre, and in 1847 he created a keyless system to rewind and set watches. Four years later, he was awarded a gold medal for his work on timepiece precision and mechanization at the first Universal Exhibition in London. In 1866, at a time when watchmaking skills were divided up among hundreds of small workshops, Antoine and his son, Elie LeCoultre (1842-1917), established the Vallée de Joux’s first full-fledged manufacture, LeCoultre and Cie, bundling their employees’ expertise under one roof. Under this setup, they developed the first partially mechanized production processes for complicated movements in 1870. By the same year, the manufacturer employed 500 people and was known as the Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux. By 1900, it had created over 350 different calibres of which 128 were equipped with chronograph functions and 99 with repeater mechanisms. From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre and Cie produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.