Rare French dress pocket watch with watch chain Circa 1918

Gun-metal gentleman’s dress watch by LIP
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A rare French gentleman’s dress watch with a watch chain, circa 1918. This watch was presented by the Belgian royal house in honour and appreciation of veterans – so-called Montre de l’Yser.
Polished, steel gun-metal finished case with an applied decorated family crest. Signed white enamel dial with radial Roman numerals (I-XII), red Arabic hours numerals (13-24), outer minutes track, subsidiary dial for the seconds, and gold Breguet hands. 2/3 plate movement, screw compensation balance.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 87 g
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Signed: LIP
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Created to commemorate the Battle of the Yser The “Montres de l’Yser” with the initials of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth was commissioned by King Albert and a total of 4,000 pieces were produced approximately 2,300 of them in August 1918 and another 1,700 pieces in January 1919. The watches were presented by the king or the queen in appreciation of services during combat in the last months of the war; later they were also awarded as personal mementoes for special merits. They were only ever given to veteran soldiers and sometimes came with a document signed by the king or by the queen. By 1975 the king had only a few watches left in his possession. The Lip factory was founded in the 1960s by Emmanuel Lipmann in Besançon in France. The company got into difficulties with strikes and factory occupations in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to the company being worker-managed for a while. The daily paper Libération called the struggle “the social conflict of the 1970s”.