Elegant Swiss gold open faced lever dress watch Circa 1935

Gold keyless lever by Paul Ditisheim
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A fine, large and elegant Swiss 18 carat gold open faced keyless lever dress watch, made in the 1930s. Rhodium-plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 18 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, the cut equidistant between the arms, Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Matte silver dial with painted upright Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds and original blued steel Breguet hands. Polished case, rounded bezel. Dial, case and movement signed case and movement numbered.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: Paul Ditisheim Solvil
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Paul Ditisheim (1868-1945) was born on October 28th, 1868, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He died in Geneva on February 7th, 1945. After early training in Switzerland, he studied in Berlin and Paris, arriving in England in 1891, where he worked as a technician at the Rotherham factory in Coventry. He started his own manufacture at La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1892, specializing in very high precision watches and jewelled watches. Success in both spheres followed rapidly, and he won many honours for adjusted watches, especially at the Neuchâtel and Kew Observatories. He collaborated with Dr Ch. E. Guillaume in the use of both the Guillaume ‘integral’ balance and the Elinvar-type of auto compensating balance spring. He also contributed many papers to scientific and horological journals and was associated with Dr Paul Woog, an oil chemist, in the development of Chronax oils.