Swiss 18 Carat gold water drop shaped rarity with coined band Circa 1850

Pocket watch with 1/5 foudroyante
–
A numbered pocket watch rarity with seconde morte 1/5 foudroyante, made by Ad. Lang et Padoux in Genève, Switzerland, circa 1850. The water drop shaped case of this watch was crafted from 18 Carat gold, has a fine coined band and a slide to stop the independent seconds. The white enamel dial  has Arabic five minute en Roman hour numerals, a subsidiary one fifth second foudroyante at six o’clock and filigree steel hands. The movement has an extremely rare escapement with key winding.
Cuvette, case and movement have matching numbers and the dial, cuvette and movement are signed.
–
Diameter: 48,5 mm
–
Weight: 90 g
–
Signed: A^D. Lang et Padoux, Genève
–
Lang & Padoux were situated at number 170, Grand-Quai in Geneva in 1860 and at number 16 in 1870.
–
This is a technically highly interesting and very rare Geneva pocket watch. The extremely rare technical feature is that the normal second hand and also the independent 1/5 second rotate in the same second scale.
–
Seconde foudroyante
Seconde foudroyante dates from at least the 1870’s and was developed for the precise timing of sporting events, especially horse racing. ‘Foudre’ is French for ‘lightning’ and this is the preferred name in English, along with jumping seconds. Seconde foudroyante is a hand which completes one full revolution per second. Most watches feature a ‘seconds’ hand which rotates for a period of one minute. A foudroyante hand, in contrast, has a period of one second. Watches equipped with such a hand typically also feature a conventional seconds hand. The foudroyante hand can be central or in a sub dial and can be used for timekeeping or as part of a chronograph. On a chronograph, a hand that makes one rotation every second, pauses four, five or even eight times to indicate quarters, fifths or eighths of a second.