Swiss gold IWC lever watch in a hunting case Circa 1906

IWC gold hunting cased pocket watch
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A Swiss 18 Carat gold IWC pocket watch, hunting cased, monogram KA, IWC precision lever movement, circa 1906, screwed gold chatons, fine adjusting device, original enamel dial with red 24 hour register, original Breguet hands, sprung front bezel opened by depressing a button in the gold pendant.
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Diameter: 49 mm
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Weight: 87 g
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Signed: International Watch Co
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In 1868, an American engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916) who had been a director of E. Howard and Co., in Boston, then America’s leading watchmaking company, founded the International Watch Company with the intention of combining the craftsmanship of the Swiss with the modern engineering technology from the U.S. to manufacture movements and watch parts for the American market.”At the time, wages in Switzerland were relatively low although there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labour” mainly carried out by people in their homes. Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French-speaking Switzerland because people feared for their jobs” and the work they did at home because Jones wanted to open a factory.

In 1850 the town of Schaffhausen was in danger of being left behind in the Industrial Age. At this stage, watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser built Schaffhausen’s first hydroelectric plant and laid the cornerstone for future industrialization.” He probably met F.A. Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans. Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturers in north east Switzerland: The International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.