Rare Swiss gold minute repeating automaton watch Circa 1890

Gold minute repeating automaton watch by L. Vrard & Co.
–
A Swiss gold hunting cased keyless lever minute repeating watch with Jacquemarts automaton, circa 1890. The watch features an intricately engraved nickel movement with wolf’s tooth winding, jewelled at the centre, a blued steel overcoil, a compensation balance, and two polished steel hammers that repeat on coiled gongs. The dial has a white enamel chapter ring with Roman numerals, an outer Arabic minute ring, subsidiary seconds, a centre translucent blue guilloché enamel, and two polychrome enamel painted Jacquemart figures striking anvils in tandem with the repeating mechanism.
–
It is housed in an 18k gold case with engine-turned covers, a vacant cartouche surrounded by scroll work on the front, a repeating slide on the band, a glazed cuvette, and a lever beneath the bezel for hand setting. It is stamped with the Chinese Hantali mark of L. Vrard & Co. inside the front cover. The case back is numbered and the front is numbered, and all covers have Swiss control marks.
–
Diameter: 56 mm
–
Signed: L. Vrard & Co., Tientsin
–
The movement is functioning, with occasional slight sticking towards the end of the strike. The dial is in good overall condition, with a scratch through the centre of the subsidiary seconds dial. The case is in good condition, with well-defined engine-turning and minor scuffs.
–
In 1860, Édouard Laidrich from Belp in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, and a Frenchman established the firm of Laidrich & Vrard (later known as L. Vrard & Cie) in Shanghai. Laidrich had completed an apprenticeship in Fleurier before travelling to China to represent a firm from the same town. Around 1870, Vrard & Cie acquired the company Borel & Sandri in Tientsin, expanding their operations from Shanghai.
–
In 1881, Pierre (1840–1899) and Fritz Loup from Motiers acquired the firm. Unfortunately, Fritz Loup passed away in an accident about a year later, and the firm was continued by Pierre Loup, who died in Tientsin in 1899. Pierre was then succeeded by two of his three sons, Gustave (1876–1961) and Bernard Loup (1880–1963). Until 1894, L. Vrard & Cie sold and represented Bovet watches in the north of China. Vrard also owned the brand name ‘Hantali’, which translates to “the success that spreads” in Chinese. The Chinese characters for ‘Hantali’ can be found inside the case lid of the present watch.