Swiss 18K yellow gold hunting cased pocket watch Circa 1980

Gold hunter with lever escapement
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A Swiss 18 carat yellow gold hunter cased pocket watch, circa 1980. A solid, polished case. White enamel dial with printed radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds dial and yellow gold Louis XV hands. Rhodium plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 19 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self compensating Breguet balance spring, micrometric swan neck regulator. Dial, case and movement signed.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Thickness: 10 mm
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Signed: International Watch Co.  Schaffhausen
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International Watch Company Schaffhausen (IWC) was founded in 1868 by Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916), an American engineer and watchmaker from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been a director of E. Howard & Co., Boston, America’s leading watchmaking company at the time. He established the company with the intention of combining modern engineering technology from the U.S. with Swiss craftsmanship to manufacture high quality watches exclusively for the American market. Then, wages in Switzerland were relatively low, although there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labour mainly carried out by people in their homes.
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Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French speaking Switzerland. People feared for their jobs and the work they did at home because he 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 industrialisation. He probably met Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans. Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturer in north-eastern Switzerland: the International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.