Rare Swiss pocket watch with minute tourbillon Circa 1910

Silver open faced watch by M. Traugott
–
A rare Swiss gentleman’s pocket watch with a minute tourbillon, circa 1910.
Silver case, glazed on both sides, and polished. Signed enamel dial with Arabic numerals, auxiliary seconds and gold spade hands. Nickel-plated, decorated 4/5 plate movement, tourbillon with 1 minute rotation time, gilt tourbillon cage, gold screw compensation balance.
–
Diameter: 52 mm
–
Weight: 88 g
–
Signed: Armin
–
M. Traugott
According to the Fédération Horlogère Suisse, M.Traugott & Cie was based on February 14, 1905 at 80 Avenue Léopold Robert in La Chaux-de-Fonds . On May 22, 1906, the company received Swiss patent no. 33816 for an escapement tourbillon.

Kathleen H. Pritchard also mentions M. Traugott but this one is based in Solothurn in 1893 with the registered trademark “Armin”. registered on January 7th. The company was able to move to La Chaux-de-Fonds around 1900.
–
Tourbillon
In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. It was developed around 1795 and patented by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801. In a tourbillon, the escapement and balance wheel are mounted in a rotating cage, in order to negate the effects of gravity when the timepiece (thus the escapement) is stuck in a certain position. By continuously rotating the entire balance wheel/escapement assembly at a slow rate (typically about one revolution per minute), the tourbillon averages out positional errors.

Originally an attempt to improve accuracy, tourbillons are still included in some modern watches. The mechanism is usually exposed on the watch’s face to showcase it.