Swiss silver watch with Pallweber patent lever Circa 1890

A Swiss Pallweber patent lever with digital dial in a silver open faced case, circa 1890. Keyless gilt split three quarter plate movement with going barrel. Marked ‘Patent Pallweber’ under the centre wheel. Plain cock with polished steel regulator, compensation balance with blue steel spiral hairspring. Club foot lever escapement. Signed white enamel dial marked in Spanish ‘Horas’ ‘Minutos’. Central aperture revealing the digital indication of minutes displayed by two silvered discs. A circular aperture above showing the hours on a third silvered disc. Below these a small subsidiary seconds dial. When the seconds hand passes 60 the minute changes instantaneously, changing the ten minute marked and hour when appropriate. The case back decoratively engraved and bearing a vacant shield shaped cartouche. Plain silver cuvette and winding button.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: International Watch Co
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Josef Pallweber of Salzburg took out a Patent in England on 1883 for his mechanism to display the time in digital format. It was adopted by International Watch Company in 1884 and produced by them for about five years. In 2018, to celebrate their 150th anniversary, IWC produced a wristwatch with a similar mechanical digital display as a tribute to Pallweber. Made in limited numbers these wristwatches are priced from $30,000.