Rare Swiss gold minute repeating carillon watch Circa 1910

Gold minute repeating carillon watch
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A fine and rare Swiss  18k gold hunting cased keyless minute repeating carillon watch circa 1910, nickel silver lever escapement movement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold regulation screws and Breguet spring, micrometre swan neck regulation system, three polished hammers repeating on three gongs, gilt dial with engraved and filled enamel Breguet numerals, blued Breguet hands, subsidiary seconds, outer minute track, 18k gold hunter case with slide for the repeater at 6, case stamped ‘DITIS Grand Prix Paris 1900’, London import date marks for 1915 and retailer’s initials ‘GS’ for The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co., movement signed ‘grand prix Paris 1900’.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Signed: Attributed to Paul Ditisheim
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Paul Ditisheim was born in 1868 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, son of the famous Ditisheim family, founder and owner of Vulcain, the watch manufacturer enjoyed by American presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. He was born into the small social circle of industrialist families that led the Swiss watch industry of the time. He studied at the Horological School of La Chaux-de-Fonds and received his ‘diploma with honor’ at the age of 13 . He was then trained in several of the major watch makers and worked at his family’s Vulcain manufacture until 1892 when he founded his own brands: Solvil and Titus .

He was considered one of the most talented watchmakers, inventors and entrepreneurs of his time.

Paul Ditisheim was instrumental in developing the new generation of chronometers, improving them greatly through his studies on the impact of atmospheric pressure and magnetic fields. He invented the affix balance. Thanks to his inventions, he was able to make the most precise chronometers ever made. By 1903, his watches had been awarded 1st prize at both Kew and Neuchâtel Observatories contests. In 1912, he won the world’s chronometric record of the Royal Kew Observatory. He also worked closely with Physics Nobel prize winner Charles-Edouard Guillaume (who invented the ‘Guillaume balance’). According to Professor M. Andrade of the Besançon Astronomical Observatory, Ditisheim’s work “constitutes the most important progress of modern chronometry”.

The case of the present watch is stamped with The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd. hallmark, one of the leading English manufacturers and retailers of fine watches, silver and jewellery situated at 112 Regent Street, London.

With a presentation case.