Elegant Swiss 14K gold keyless lever dress watch Circa 1940

Gold open faced dress watch by Jules Jürgensen
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A very fine and elegant Swiss 14 carat gold open faced keyless lever dress watch, circa 1940. Rhodium-plated movement, Geneva Stripng decoration, 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator. A two-tone satin silver dial with applied gold Arabic hours, outer minutes divisions, sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and partially replaced gold feuille hands. Polished case, engraved on the back. Dial, case and movement signed, case and movement numbered. Accompanied by a fitted presentation box and knife.
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Diameter: 43 mm
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Thickness: 7.5 mm
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Signed: Jules Jürgensen Estd 1740 Switzerland
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Jules Frédéric Jürgensen was born in 1808 and died in 1877. He was the son of Urban Jürgensen and a very eminent watchmaker himself. Jules was born in Le Locle, Switzerland but as a child moved to Denmark with his parents. In 1830, after his father’s death, the company was taken over by Jules and his brother Louis Urban. In 1833, Jules returned to Le Locle and built up a successful business. Jürgensen, who was watchmaker to the King of Denmark, was made a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur and Knight of the Royal Order of Dannebrog. Between 1870 and 1876 he was a member of the commission of surveillance of the Geneva School of Horology, along with Ekegren, Potter and others. He further was a member of many commissions in Switzerland judging horological contests. He stamped most of his watches on the pillar plate under the dial ‘Jules Jürgensen of Copenhagen’. After his death, the business was continued by his brother and in 1886 it was sold to an employee, H. Kiens, whose sons Jules (1837-1894) and Jacques Alfred (1842-1912) continued the business, as did the House of Heuer afterwards. Jürgensen invented his bow-setting mechanism in 1867. He wanted to prevent any accidental changing of the watch setting. In his design, the cover had to be opened in order to turn the bow far enough to engage the setting pin. In some of his watches, he did not want the back cover, which was not spring-loaded, to be opened by the owner. Therefore, for his watches with an open face, he used a special case in which the front was designed with a bezel utilizing a lifting mechanism like that in a hunting case. The setting could be done safely, by first opening the front by pushing on the stem, turning the bow until it touched the crystal and then setting the watch.