French rose gold minute repeating chronograph Circa 1910

Open faced lever chronograph by LeRoy
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A French 14 carat rose gold open faced minute repeating chronograph keyless lever pocket watch, circa 1910. Gilt finished jewelled lever movement, bimetallic compensation balance, minute repeating on two polished steel hammers onto two gongs, activated through a slide in the band. Rose gold cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer calibrated pulsation ring, two subsidiary dials for constant seconds and 60-minute register. Polished case, hinged monogrammed back. Cuvette signed and numbered.
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Signed: LeRoy et Fils Paris
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Diameter: 52.5 mm
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Former collection of Gerd-Rüdiger Lang
Gerd-Rüdiger Lang, a master watchmaker and founder of Chronoswiss. Carefully selected for its escapement and other technical movement feature(s), this watch pays tribute to his main passion, the mechanical chronograph. Lang learned the watchmaker’s trade at Jauns watch shop in his hometown Braunschweig, followed by an apprenticeship. In 1964 he moved to Switzerland and started as a watchmaker at the Heuer stopwatch and chronograph factory in Bienne, Switzerland. He stayed with Heuer until 1979. During his fifteen years with the firm, he participated in filming Le Mans with Steve McQueen and acted as an official timekeeper during various Formula One races.
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In 1980, he completed the school for master craftspeople in Würzburg, Germany, followed by the foundation of a special workshop for chronographs in Munich in 1981. The year after, he introduced the world’s first mechanical chronograph with a moon phase display and mineral crystal display back, emphasizing for him the most important component of a watch: the movement. This highly innovative model was baptized Chronoswiss, the name of the watch company he established in 1983. With the foundation of Chronoswiss, Lang contributed to the renaissance of mechanical timepieces; his commitment to making extraordinary watches is paying tribute to this centuries-old trade. Distinguished by its small production numbers and the various world premieres, awards and patents obtained, the small German company is recognized among watch connoisseurs worldwide for its exquisite craftsmanship and innovative design.