Danish gold watch with chronometer escapement Circa 1860

Gold hunting cased pocket chronometer by Jules Jürgensen
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An extremely rare Danish pocket chronometer with pivoted detent escapement, circa 1860.
18 carat rose gold engine turned case with reeded band, signed gold dome and glazed movement. Signed enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, auxiliary seconds and gold hands decorated with enamelled leaves and blossoms and set facetted stones. Signed bridge movement, rhodium-plated, with “fausses côtes” decoration, screwed chatons, wolfteeth winding wheels, pivoted detent chronometer escapement, large gold screw compensation balance, blued helical balance spring and chatoned ruby endstone on pivoted detent.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 141 g
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Signed: Jules Jürgensen, Copenhagen
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The extract from the archive for this watch no. 805 actually describes a different watch. John Knudsen explains this after seeing the pictures of no.805; he states that the watch is original and very early Jules Jürgensen, created around 1838. Knudsen does not commit himself to 1838, but is sure that the ebauche was made during Jules Jürgensen’s very beginning. An identical ebauche with exactly the same escapement has been described in the book as no. 227 from 1837; that watch is keywind, but signed ‘Jules F.U. Jürgensen’. As Jules F.U. Jürgensen was an apprentice during the 1850s, he must have finished it during that period or shortly after. Knudsen is certain that the watch was originally finished with stemwind, but stemwind was not on the market when no. 227 was finished. So, he states, while no-one knows when no. 805 was finished it must have been after no. 227. Knudsen assumes that Jules Jürgensen purchased only a few deck watch ebauches and finished them over many years.