French gold keyless lever chronograph with register Circa 1890

Gold chronograph by Bernard Poitevin
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A fine French 18 carat gold open faced keyless lever pocket watch with chronograph and 30-minute register, circa 1890. Retailed by Henri Vever, 19 Rue de la Paix, Paris. Matte gilt movement, 23 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, a straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with peripheral temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring with overcoil and an index regulator. A hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track and concentric outermost fifths of a second divisions with Arabic five-second numerals, sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and 30-minute register at 12, gold spade hands. A plain case with engraved foliate monogram PW on the back, the interior engraved 28 Mai 1899. Punched with Poitevin’s mark on the dial plate, cuvette signed by the retailer, movement numbered.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Signed: Henri Vever
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Bernard Poitevin worked as a Parisian watch and chronometer maker between 1850 and 1890. He founded the company B. Poitevin & V. Lejeune. His shops were located at Rue Richelieu (1850) and Rue Vivienne 22 (1860-1900). Poitevin produced very fine quality watches with complications like repeater watches, chronographs and first-class chronometers with bulletin from the Geneva Observatory.