Swiss repeating lever with carillon Westminster chime Circa 1910

Gold hunting cased minute repeater by Constant Piguet
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A very fine, very rare and large Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating keyless lever pocket watch with carillon Westminster chime with four hammers on four gongs, circa 1910. Gilt- brass movement, 32 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring with overcoil, index regulator, repeating on four gongs with four hammers activated by a slide on the band. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with large Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds and original blued steel Breguet hands. Polished case, the front with a white champlevé enamel monogram GB. Case numbered, movement punched with Constant Piguet’s partial patent number.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Constant Piguet Le Sentier
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Carillon minute repeating watches are very rare. Only a few are known with four hammers or Westminster chimes. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the No. 11948. The makers that specialized in this type of watch were Constant Piguet, Eduard JeanRichard, and Victorin Piguet. The known tunes played by four hammer carillons are: Westminster chimes, the Swiss National anthem and God Save the King.
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In 1896 Constant Piguet is listed as a gong maker in Le Sentier in the canton of Vaud, making carillon repeating watches with four hammers. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the Swiss patent No. 11948. Today these are the watches for which he is best known, they bear his patent number on the movement.
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The Westminster chimes are more correctly called the Cambridge Chimes. They first appeared in 1793 at St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge. They were written by Rev Dr Joseph Jowett and Dr John Randall, working with undergraduate William Crotch (later first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music) and were adopted by Lord Grimthorpe, designer of the great Big Ben clock for the Palace of Westminster. The chimes are based on four notes from Handel’s Messiah and are known locally in Cambridge as Jowett’s Jig.