Swiss 14 carat rose gold hunting cased lever watch Circa 1910

Rose gold gentlemen’s full hunter
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A Swiss 14 carat rose gold hunting cased pocket watch, circa 1910. The lever movement with a Breguet hairspring, the balance with compensation and screws, swan neck adjustment. White enamel dial with black Arabic hours, an outer minute track with red Arabic 24 hour numerals, a sunk center and subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock, blued Breguet hands. A scalloped case band, stepped bezels, the back is engraved with a striped motif and has a shield shaped cartouche in the left upper corner, monogrammed FJ. Dial signed, case and movement numbered.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 92 g
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Signed: International Watch Co Schaffhausen
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International Watch Company Schaffhausen (IWC) was founded in 1868 by Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916), an American engineer and watchmaker from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been a director of E. Howard & Co. in Boston, America’s leading watchmaking company at the time.

He established the company intending to combine modern engineering technology from the U.S. with the craftsmanship of the Swiss to manufacture high quality watches exclusively for the American market. Then, wages in Switzerland were relatively low although there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labour mainly carried out by people in their homes. Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French speaking Switzerland. People feared for their jobs and the work they did at home because he wanted to open a factory.

In 1850, Schaffhausen was in danger of being left behind in the Industrial Age. At this stage, watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser built Schaffhausen’s first hydroelectric plant laying the cornerstone for future industrialization. He probably met Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans. Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturer in northeast Switzerland: the International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.