American open faced keyless lever pocket chronometer Circa 1870

Gold chronometer with double wheel escapement by Charles Fasoldt
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A very rare and fine American gold open faced keyless lever pocket chronometer with double wheel escapement, circa 1870. The movement of this watch features damascened bridges and a wolf’s tooth winding mechanism. It includes a Fasoldt patented double gold wheel lever chronometer escapement, providing impulse to the smaller wheel and locking to the larger one and is equipped with a single roller and a bi metallic compensation balance, along with a balance cock featuring Fasoldt’s precision regulation. It is signed C. Fasoldt, Albany, New York, and engraved with patent dates Apr. 5, 1864, and Mar. 7, 1865.
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The white enamel dial is signed Fasoldt Patent Chronometer Albany NY and displays Roman numerals, an outer minute ring, large subsidiary seconds, and blued steel moon hands. The 18 carat gold case boasts an engine turned back, a polished vacant circular cartouche at the center, a milled band, a polished bezel, a hinged glazed cuvette, and a gold pendant and bow. The inside back bears the case maker’s mark EH for E. Humbert and is numbered XX 353.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Charles Fasoldt, Albany, New York
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The movement is operational, though there is some tarnishing on the plates and a few minor scratches. The hand setting is aligned via a set square to the center of the movement. The dial has a hairline crack on the left side of the sunken subsidiary seconds dial, a fine hairline between 6 and 7 o’clock, and a very faint hairline crack between 8 and 9 o’clock at the edge. The case shows signs of polishing on the bezels, with some abrasions and marks on the engine turned decoration. The bow features a UK hallmark indicating 18 carat gold.
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Charles Fasoldt (1818-1898)
Fasoldt was born in Germany and was sentenced to death in 1848 because he participated in the revolution. He escaped from jail, though and emigrated to the United States. He settled in Albany and began setting up an impressive enterprise, which produced clocks, measuring instruments and microscopes and his famous watches. Furthermore, he sold the watches for 150 to 300 dollars per piece, which was a considerable price then. All watches were designed by Fasoldt and nearly all of his patented anker escapement. For his pocket watches, he invented a mechanism for winding and setting the hands – this cleared the way for the change from key wind to crown wind systems. Fasoldt patented his extraordinarily dependable escapement on March 7, 1865; the system requires no greasing and has a strong drag angle at both anker pallets. Fasoldt carried out a spectacular test to prove the reliability of his escapement: he attached one of his pocket watches as well as several watches of other makers to the connecting rod of an Empire Express train engine for a return trip to Albany – New York – Albany. After the bumpy ride, Fasoldt’s watch showed only a slight deviation, while all the other watches had stopped after just a few minutes.