Swiss sterling silver and gold lever chronograph Circa 1880

With two-train independent jump quarter seconds chronograph by Tissot
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A fine and rare Swiss sterling silver and gold hunting cased keyless lever pocket watch with two-train independent jump quarter seconds chronograph, circa 1880. Nickel movement, 30 jewels, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, tandem winding. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost minutes and 1/5th seconds, Arabic five-minute numerals, subsidiary quarter-second jump diablotine and blued steel Breguet hands. Case with a coin-edge band, the reverse with applied gold intertwined foliate decoration with outer zodiac symbols, cover with three central figures and an owl under stars and a crescent moon, start, stop and reset button to the band, Albata bezel and hinged cuvette, stone-set winding crown. Dial and movement signed, case numbered.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Signed: Charles F. Tissot & Son Locle
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Founded in Le Locle, Switzerland, in 1853, by Charles Felicien Tissot, who was later joined by his son Charles Emile Tissot, the firm Ch. F. Tissot became Chs. F. Tosson & Fils in 1880. Still based in Le Locle, the firm would later take the name of Tissot.
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The feature known as a diablotine is a small subsidiary dial on a chronograph or independent centre seconds pocket watch, the hand of which moves in a jumping manner at intervals of 1/4 or 1/5th of a second. The term literally means ‘little devil’. The diablotine is halted when the chronograph or centre seconds is stopped and the fractions of a second can be read.