Swiss gold and cloisonné enamel lobed dress watch Circa 1925

Lobed keyless lever watch by Vacheron & Constantin
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A very fine, elegant, rare and thin Swiss 18 carat gold, red and blue cloisonné enamel, lobed keyless lever dress watch, circa 1925. Case by Verger Frères. Retailed by Lang, Paris. Rhodium-plated, 18 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bi metallic compensation balance with eight adjustments, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator. Brushed silver dial with stylized raised blue enamel Arabic numerals, outer dot minute divisions and original blued steel serpentine hands. Square case with lobed corners, red enamel back with central cloisonné panel decorated with blue and gold stylized flowers and scrolls, blue enamel band and pendant with gold decoration, red enamel bezel, pearl winding crown. Dial and movement signed Vacheron & Constantin, case punched with Verger Frères mark, case and movement numbered.
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Dimensions: 42 x 42 mm
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Signed: Lang Paris – Vacheron & Constantin Geneva
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Verger. Two generations of designers and case makers. The firm was founded by Ferdinand Verger in 1872, Place des Victoires à Paris. Verger had two sons, Georges and Henri. In 1896 the trademark ‘F.V.’ was registered. Ferdinand Verger bought the firm of Lépine, Place des Victoires, from Roux in 1901, and in 1914 he sold the remaining stock to Louis Leroy but kept the trademark, which he registered again in 1917. Successors of their father in 1911, Georges and Henri settled at 51 rue Sainte Anne under the name of Verger Frères. They were the Paris agent for Vacheron & Constantin. Not only wholesalers but also designers and case makers, they produced cases for the finest jewelers of the world, including Boucheron, Mauboussin, Ostertag, Tiffany, La Cloche, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Gübelin and even Hauser-Zivy y Cia. in Mexico. They employed up to 40 craftsmen in Paris, not only jewelers, to produce cases and to fit the movements, but also watchmakers for adjusting and after-sale service of the movements. Some of their models are very original, such as the so-called ‘Bras en l’air’, made with a figure of the Buddha, a snake charmer or a Mandarin, the famous ‘radiateur’, often sold as a purse clasp. the ‘montres à volets’ produced for Ostertag, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Mauboussin, Gübelin and Tiffany and the celebrated ‘Montre Cadenas’ specially designed for Van Cleef & Arpels.
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Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with coloured material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, glass and other materials were also used during older periods, indeed, cloisonné enamel very probably began as an easier imitation of cloisonné work using gems. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné.