Swiss silvered pocket watch with jumping minute Circa 1910

Open faced pocket watch with jumping hour
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A very beautiful preserved silvered pocket watch with jumping hour and jumping minute, made by Thommens Uhrenfabrik AG. in Waldenburg, Switzerland, circa 1910. The open faced plain case is silvered on the outside and gilded on the inside. The rare dial has a representation of two fox heads, a window for the jumping hour and the jumping minute and dial to show the seconds at six o’clock. The movement is glazed, has a lever escapement and is marked “Patent G.T.”.
Dial signed.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 116 g
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Signed: GT                
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Revue Thommen

To counter migration away from the Waldenburg Valley, the municipality of Waldenburg establishes the Société d’Horlogerie à Waldenbourg (the Waldenburg Watchmaking Company). In 1895, Gédéon Thommen, an entrepreneur from Waldenburg and Louis Tschopp, a watchmaker from Biel/Bienne, take over the company. Tschopp leaves the business in 1896. Gédéon Thommen becomes the sole owner of the company and changes its name to Gédéon Thommen Uhrenfabrik (Gédéom Thommen Watchmaking). He patents a “system for replacing individual components” and applies to patent a remontoire. A new production building is also erected and Thommen, with the aim of becoming more independent from his suppliers, sets out to produce individual parts for the raw work in his studio. Four thousand watches are manufactured under the new brand name G.T. In 189-, production rises to 13.000 pieces. Thommen’s son Alphons takes over the company after his father’s death. In 1905, Alphonse founds Thommens Uhrenfabrik AG.
1910 sees the Revue brand introduced, followed a year later by the birth of the Blériot watch brand. In 1915, a second production facility is opened in Gelterkinden. That same year, Thommens Uhrenfabrik AG receives an order from Switzerland for the development of cockpit instruments to be installed in the first aircraft of the newly established Schweizer Luftwaffe (Swiss Air Force).
In 1916, Thommens Uhrenfabrik AG already delivers its first aircraft clock to the Schweizer Luftwaffe. A new branch office is opened in la Chaux-de-Fonds as part of the company’s expansion strategy. Three years later, a third production facility is opened in Langenbruck.
In 1923, the New York based Albert Wittnauer imports Revue Thommen watches under the trademark Majestic Watch Co.