Swiss 18K gold hunting cased complicated lever watch Circa 1932

Gold repeating full hunter chronograph by Le Phare
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A very fine, rare and large Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating chronograph lever pocket watch with perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and instantaneous 30 minute register, circa 1932. Matte gilt movement, Ø 47 mm, 25 jewels, a straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with Breguet balance spring, silent cross centrifugal governor and index regulator, repeating on gongs by depressing a push button in the band at 6 o’clock. A hinged gold cuvette engraved with a date and technical details. White enamel dial with Arabic hours, outer minute divisions, an outermost chronograph track divided into fifths with Arabic five minute/second numerals, four sunk subsidiary dials for the days of the week, date, months of the leap year cycle concentric with 30 minute register and subsidiary seconds at 9 o’clock concentric with phases of the moon aperture, blued steel spade hands. The polished case with a button at 4 for the start/stop and return-to-zero functions of the chronograph. Cuvette signed, case numbered.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Le Phare Le Locle
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This watch is one of a small series made with a perpetual calendar in the 1930s. These watches are the best made by the firm of C. Barbezat-Baillot under the trade name ‘Le Phare’.
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Le Phare. The company was originally founded by Charles Barbezat-Baillot (1847-1938) and Henry Guye (1838-1877) under the name Guye & Barbezat in Le Locle, Switzerland, high in the Neuchâtel mountains. In 1888, the firm’s name was changed to Le Phare, being the registered name of their complicated watches.

The company, which later launched the Jean d’Eve watch range, has left its mark on the story of Swiss watchmaking. Indeed, from 1889, its watches were rewarded by the most eminent prizes, a gold medal at the National Exhibition of 1896 in Geneva followed that of 1889 at the Great Universal Exhibition in Paris. In 1897 the silent regulator was invented. A veritable technological marvel that overcame the humming problems beset the repeater watches of the day. This brought another gold medal for Le Phare at the Paris Great Exhibition of 1900.

In 1900, the company advertised their brands that year as La Locloise, l’Esperanto, Le Phare, Tempora and La Volapuk. The company continued to develop and in 1970 was the second largest producer of chronograph watches in Switzerland. The management’s strategy is to maximise its remarkable know-how to develop new ways of measuring time.