Swiss 18 carat gold musical automaton lever watch Circa 1980

Gold watch with alarm and centre-seconds
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A fine and rare Swiss 18 carat gold open faced centre seconds musical keyless lever pocket watch with automaton and alarm, circa 1980. Accompanied by a lyre-shaped key and a fitted Reuge box. Polished bezel, reeded band, hinged case back cover engraved with a musical trophy on a sunray ground, alarm setting button at 11 o’clock. Solid cuvette with an aperture for winding the music and a button for activating the music.
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Small white enamel dial with Arabic hours, outer minute divisions and gilt Breguet hands, a polychrome painted view of a country landscape with applied gilt metal automaton of a lady operating a water pump with moving water, a gentleman on horseback with a hawk on his moving arm and the horse with an animated head drinking from the fountain, gilt metal foliage with two dogs and a basket in the foreground. Matte gilt movement, 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, flat balance spring, shock absorber, index regulator. Dial and cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Signed: Charles Reuge Sainte-Croix
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The present watch is one of the very few examples of this model cased in 18 carat gold. It has an early serial number, No. 9, and a hand-engraved case. It was a personal gift from Guido Reuge, who was director of the Reuge firm for nearly 16 years, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Guido Reuge created The Huntsman’s Rest series of musical and automaton pocket watches as a homage to his grandfather, Charles Reuge.
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The origins of Reuge date back to 1865 when Charles Reuge set up a musical pocket watch shop in the Swiss Mountain town of Sainte-Croix. By 1886 his son, Albert Reuge opened a music box workshop, the company experienced success and their mechanisms were to be found in a range of products such as powder compacts and cigarette lighters. By 1930 Guido Reuge had built the Reuge factory and he guided the company for over 60 years. Today Reuge retains its historical elements still producing singing birds but moving with the times, their music boxes today come in traditional but also modern and innovative designs.