Swiss 14 carat gold open faced lever watch with chain Circa 1900

Gold pocket watch by IWC
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A Swiss 14 carat gold open faced lever pocket watch with chain, circa 1900. Lépine movement with a lever escapement, bimetallic screw balance, blued Breguet hairspring, swan neck fine adjusting device, four screwed gold chatons and crown winding, the bridge plate is punched IWC. Original white enamel dial with Arabic hours, an outer minute track, Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and rose gold spade hands. The case with an engine turned back and central, engraved blank cartouche. Dial signed and numbered, movement numbered. Comes with a solid 14 carat gold chain which weighs approximately 22 g.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 117 g
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Signed: International Watch Co.
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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. in Boston, America’s leading watchmaking company at the time. He established the company intending to combine modern engineering technology from the U.S. with the craftsmanship of the Swiss 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. 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, 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 laying the cornerstone for future industrialization. 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 northeast Switzerland: the International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.