Large Swiss 18K rose gold complicated watch Circa 1890

Rose gold lever with seven complications by LeCoultre
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A very fine, rare and large, heavy Swiss 18 carat rose gold hunting cased minute repeating chronograph keyless lever pocket watch with perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and moon age, circa 1890. Retailed by Ch. Courvoisier, 29 rue Richer, Paris. Rhodium-plated movement, Geneva Striping decoration, wolf’s tooth winding, 36 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, visible chronograph work, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. The hinged gold cuvette is engraved with the technical details, a glazed gold-rimmed cover over the movement. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track and fifths of a second chronograph divisions, Arabic five-second numerals calibrated to 300 units, subsidiary dials for the date, days of the week, the months with leap-year cycle and seconds, a moon phase aperture with moon’s age on the border and blued steel spade hands. A massive, polished case, the sprung front cover with an applied gold foliate monogram. Movement numbered and signed beneath the hour hammer, cuvette signed by the retailer.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: LeCoultre & Co
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The seven complications of this watch are the date, days of the week, months, perpetual calendar, moon phases and age, a chronograph and minute repeater.
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LeCoultre & Cie. The earliest records of the LeCoultre family in Switzerland date from the 16th century, when Pierre LeCoultre (circa 1530 – 1600), a French Huguenot, fled to Geneva from Lisy-sur-Ourcq, France to escape religious persecution. In 1558, he obtained the status of inhabitant but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vallée de Joux. Over time, a small community formed and in 1612, Pierre LeCoultre’s son built a church there, marking the founding of the village of Le Sentier where the company’s manufacturing is still based today. In 1833, following his invention of the machine to cut watch pinions from steel, Antoine LeCoultre (1803-1881) founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier where he honed his horological skills to create high-quality timepieces. In 1844, he invented the world’s most precise measuring instrument at the time, the millionomètre, and in 1847 he created a keyless system to rewind and set watches. Four years later, he was awarded a gold medal for his work on timepiece precision and mechanization at the first Universal Exhibition in London. In 1866, at a time when watchmaking skills were divided up among hundreds of small workshops, Antoine and his son, Elie LeCoultre (1842-1917), established the Vallée de Joux’s first full-fledged manufacture, LeCoultre & Cie, bundling their employees’ expertise under one roof. Under this setup, they developed the first partially mechanized production processes for complicated movements in 1870. By the same year, the manufacturer employed 500 people and was known as the Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux. By 1900, it had created over 350 different calibres of which 128 were equipped with chronograph functions and 99 with repeater mechanisms. From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre & Cie produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.