French patented purse watch with opening for portraits Circa 1940

Lacquered pink gold purse watch
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A fine and unusual 18 carat pink gold and lacquered patented purse watch with an opening for portraits made by Uti Watch Co. in Besançon, France, circa 1940. A rectangular, double body, case with hinged black lacquered and monogrammed locket, the watch concealed in the cylindrical pivot and revolving to disclose the dial. The brushed dial has baton and Roman hour indexes, and blued steel syringe hands. The rectangular rhodium plated movement has Geneva striping decoration, 15 jewels, a straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance and self compensating balance spring.
Signed on the dial and movement.
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Dimensions: 33 x 28 mm
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Signed: UTI
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In 1906, engineer Georges Meyer founded UTI, short for UTINAM, a French horology manufacturer of precision watches, clocks, bedside and travel alarms and railway stopwatches. UTINAM was the motto of the city of Besançon, birthplace of French horology. UTINAM translates to “I wish”.
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In 1912, UTI already had a very rich catalogue with pocket watches, wristwatches for men and women, form movements and luminous dials based on radium, an invention that had been developed in 1904, with Pierre and Marie Curie and the manufacturer LIP.
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Georges Meyer retired from the company in 1936 and passed it to his son, Gilles, who employed Eugène Blum as technical director.
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Until 1940, both names UTINAM or UTI and “Etablissements Georges Meyer” were used. In 1940, UTI S.A. was registered.
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At the end of WWII, Jacques Meyer, grandson of Georges, took over the family business and focused on high end watches through a partnership with jewellers like Van Cleef and Arpels.
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In the 1950s, strong partnerships were concluded with watchmakers like Breitling, Lemania, Glycine and Universal Genève.
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With more than 450 employees in the 1970s, UTI would unfortunately not survive the quartz crisis and closed permanently in 1984.