Swiss gold, enamel and diamond-set complicated lever Circa 1895

Gold, enamel and diamond-set lever with 7 complications by Louis Audemars
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An extremely fine and exceptional, large Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel and diamond-set hunting cased lever pocket watch with perpetual calendar, phases and age of the moon, special patented split-seconds chronograph and antimagnetic escapement made for Russian Imperial presentation, circa 1895. Superior adjustment, rhodium-plated, Geneva striping decoration, 25 jewels, anti magnetic straight-line calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with platinum temperature adjustment screws, special alloy Breguet balance spring with overcoil, rack and pinion micrometre regulator, chronograph and split activated by buttons in the band. Gold hinged cuvette with engine-turned border. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost seconds divided into fifths, five-minute/seconds red Arabic numerals, four subsidiary sunk dials for days of the week, date, months of the four-year leap cycle and subsidiary seconds concentric with phases of the moon aperture and lunar calendar and original blued steel spade hands. Polished case, the front decorated with the Russian Imperial arms in black, blue and red champlevé enamel and set with rose-cut diamonds, gold levers for calendar setting protruding from under the bezel. Dial, case, cuvette and movement signed.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: Louis Audemars Brassus & Geneva
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This watch is one of the finest and most complicated made for presentation by the Czar. It is extremely highly finished and very complicated for a presentation watch and must therefore have been intended for a very important recipient. The watch has a balance and spring which were made to be anti magnetic, gold setting levers, and a patented split-seconds chronograph mechanism. It is also, unusually, fully signed by Louis Audemars. The special split-seconds chronograph system was patented by Charles H. Audemars (US patent 253338 of February 7, 1882, filed on June 23, 1891). The system, which is difficult to produce, is very reliable and features a special clutch coupling wheel, assuring faster and more reliable starting.