Swiss 14K yellow gold open faced pocket watch Circa 1904

Gold open faced keyless lever watch
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A fine Swiss 14 carat yellow gold open faced pocket watch made by Auréole, circa 1904. It has a mechanical crown winding gilt brass movement with a lever escapement, a cut bimetallic compensation balance, and a blued steel Breguet balance spring system. The white enamel dial shows black Breguet style numerals for the hours, an outer minute track, a subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o’clock, and gilded pear shaped hands, signed Auréole. The timepiece is housed in a round three body, 14 carat solid yellow gold open faced case with a smooth polished reverse back cover adorned with an applied gold and enamel coat of arms topped by a Marquis crown, a fluted winding crown, a sturdy round suspension bow, and a solid 14 carat gold inner cuvette bearing a personal commemorative inscription engraved in Polish and dated 1876 to 1904.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 83.5 g
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Signed: Aureole
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The Swiss watch brand Auréole was founded in 1868 by watchmaker Philidor Wolf in the renowned watchmaking centre of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Together with his sons Jules and Emile, he established a factory specializing in high quality lever watches. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the company experienced a golden era. From 1904 onwards, officially named Fabrique Auréole, it developed several in house calibers. In addition to classic pocket watches, the brand ventured into ultra thin cases, chronographs, and repeating mechanisms during this period.

In the subsequent decades, Auréole proved to be a strong innovator and pioneer. In 1932, they launched one of the very first wristwatches in the world featuring a date window, and just a year later, they introduced water resistant watches. Production experienced an enormous boom after the Second World War under the leadership of the Choffat family, with annual output soaring to an impressive 370000 watches in 1967. Although the brand ultimately did not survive the so called Quartz Crisis in the 1970s and was forced to close its doors, their early mechanical pocket watches remain highly sought after collector pieces today due to their reliable and beautifully finished Swiss movements.