Swiss gold five minute repeating chronograph Circa 1870

Gold hunting cased precision watch
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A rare Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased five minute repeating chronograph keyless pocket watch with independent stoppable jumping seconds made by Tiffany & Co in New York, U.S.A., circa 1870. The glazed Swiss quality precision movement with a lever escapement, two barrel drums, simultaneous crown winding, wolf’s teeth and golden wheels. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track with fifth of a second divisions and Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary flashing 1/5 seconds at 6 o’clock and steel Breguet hands.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 158 g
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Signed: Tiffany & Co New York
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Patek Philippe and a few other makers like Jules Jürgensen and Louis Audemars were able to make these complex watches with four types of complications.
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Seconde foudroyante dates from at least the 1870s and was developed for the precise timing of sporting events, especially horse racing. ‘Foudre’ is French for ‘lightning’, which is the preferred name in English, along with jumping seconds. Seconde foudroyante is a hand which completes one full revolution per second. Most watches feature a seconds hand which rotates for one minute. A foudroyante hand, in contrast, has a period of one second. Watches equipped with such a hand typically also feature a conventional seconds hand. The foudroyante hand can be central or in a subdial and can be used for timekeeping or as part of a chronograph. On a chronograph, a hand that makes one rotation every second, pauses four, five or even eight times to indicate quarters, fifths or eighths of a second.