Swiss keyless lever made for the Chinese market Circa 1900

Gold and enamel minute repeating chronograph
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A fine Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel and pearl set hunting cased minute repeating keyless lever pocket watch with chronograph made for the Chinese market, circa 1900. Rhodium plated movement, 28 jewels, a straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring and an index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. Hinged gold cuvette engraved with the prize medals and technical details, a glazed gold rimmed cover to view the movement. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute and 1/5th second track with Arabic five minute/second numerals calibrated to 300 units, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gilt Louis XV hands. The case is enamelled on both sides, with on the front a polychrome enamel scene depicting a courting couple in a landscape on a translucent blue enamel ground and the back with a portrait of a lady in Renaissance costume against a translucent blue enamel background, her necklace set with four rose cut diamonds. The front and rear bezels are set with pearls, and it has an engraved band. Dial and cuvette signed, movement numbered. Accompanied by a Levy Hermanos rosewood fitted presentation box.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: J. Ullmann & Co Hong Kong, Shanghai & Tientsin
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J. Ullmann & Co La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Shanghai & Tientsin.
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The case of the present watch is made of 18 carat gold rather than the usual 14 carat gold more commonly used for the cases of this type of watch.
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The Philippine watchmaking company Levy Hermanos (Levy Brothers) was founded by Adolphe (1849-1888), Charles (1854-1899) and Raphaël, sons of merchant Nathan Moïse Lévy (1813-1892) and Louise Blum (1819-1895). During the 1870 Franco-German War, the brothers fled from their native village, Marckolsheim in the Alsace-Lorraine region, France, via San Francisco in California, U.S.A., to Iloilo, Western Visayas in the Philippines. When they arrived in 1873, they were among the first Jewish families in the Philippines. Adolphe died of cholera in Manila on June 13, 1888.
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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the company was active in Manila, Singapore and Paris, and had a Hong Kong branch at 10 Queen’s Road, Central. Over the years, Levy Hermanos opened branches in Shanghai, Tientsin, Port Arthur, Kharbin and Bombay.