Swiss 18k gold lever minute repeating dress watch Circa 1911

Gold open-faced keyless lever repeater by Patek Philippe
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A very fine Swiss 18-carat gold open-faced keyless lever minute repeating dress watch, circa 1911. Extra movement, Geneva striping decoration, 29 jewels, 8 adjustments, straight-line calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, repeating on gongs by activating slide in the band. Gold hinged cuvette engraved JH R, July 10-20, 1911, ‘True Friendship’. White enamel dial with printed Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions with five-minute red Arabic markers, sunk subsidiary seconds, and original blued steel double spade hands. Polished case, black enamelled initials GSW on the back. Movement and case signed by the watchmaker, dial signed Tiffany & Co Switzerland. Accompanied by an Extract from the Archives.
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Diameter: 46 mm
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Thickness: 10 mm

Signed: Made for Tiffany & Co Patek, Philippe & Co Switzerland
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What is a minute repeater? 
A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the 9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First, one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality, it will count out the hours. Then both hammers will strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes after that quarter-hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.