Swiss repeating grande and petite sonnerie lever Circa 1890

Gold minute repeating lever clock watch attributed to Louis Elisée Piguet
–
A very fine and very rare, large Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased trip minute repeating two-train grande and petite sonnerie keyless lever clock watch, circa 1890. Retailed by Wm. Weingart, horloger, 9, Boulevard Poissonniere, Paris. Frosted gilt movement, two-train with Mairet tandem winding, 32 jewels, calibrated straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, striking the hours and quarters on two gongs with two hammers, Silence/Sonnerie and Petite/Grande Sonnerie selection levers on the bezel border, repeating activated by a trip slide on the band. Gold hinged cuvette engraved with the retailer’s and technical details. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five-minute numerals, subsidiary seconds, original blued steel spade hands. Polished case, the interior of the back cover with engraved dedication. Case and dial plate punch numbered.
–
Diameter: 56 mm
–
Signed: No name
–
This piece is in exceptionally good condition.
–
Louis Elisée Piguet (1836-1924) from Le Brassus made a number of exceptional timepieces, such as a grande sonnerie with seven hammers. Some of the most complicated watches sold in Glashütte employed L.E. Piguet movements, while firms such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron & Constantin and Breguet employed his movements on occasion. He improved chronographs, invented the fixed star repeating mechanism and improved the keyless winding system. When Ami LeCoultre Piguet received a commission to build the so-called ‘Merveilleuse’, a watch with 24 functions and complications, he chose Louis-Elisée Piguet as his partner. One of the most talented watchmakers of the end of the 19th century, he was respected by his peers and served on a number of horological committees. His company, later renamed Frédéric Piguet SA, has survived and continues the tradition of making high-quality complicated timepieces.