Swiss 14 carat gold open faced lever pocket watch Circa 1935

Gold pocket watch by IWC
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A Swiss 14 carat gold open faced gentlemen’s pocket watch, circa 1930/1940. The movement with a lever escapement. Gilt dial with applied Roman hour numerals, outer minute dots, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gilt kite hands. A plain case. Dial signed, case and movement numbered.
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Diameter: 48 cm
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Weight: 62 g
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Signed: International Watch Co. Schaffhausen
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The present piece is a typical gentlemen’s pocket watch from the 1930s or 1940s by the International Watch Company of 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. 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.