Swiss gold complicated hunting cased lever watch Circa 1910

Gold complicated full hunter
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A Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating chronograph keyless lever pocket watch with nine complications, Cronòmetro Repeticiòn, circa 1910. Made for the Spanish market by Fix Watch Co. and retailed by El Trust in Madrid. Gilt brass movement with a straight line lever escapement, going barrel, compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel hairspring with a terminal curve. A polished case, the cover is taille douce engraved with a garland and features the applied cypher AG in gold. White enamel dial with Breguet style hours, an outer minute/second track with Arabic five minute/second numerals, subsidiary dials and original blued spade hands.

This timepiece features nine horological complications, it repeats the minutes on two steel gongs activated by the rectangular shaped push piece located on the case band at 6 o’clock, it has a chronograph activated by the rectangular shaped push piece located on the band at 4, an instantaneous 30 minute counter at 3, a perpetual calendar, the date at 6, days of the week at 12 and months of the year at 3 in Spanish, a four year cycle of leap years at 3 and the age and phases of the moon graduated from 0 to 29 ½ at 9 o’clock. Case and movement signed. Accompanied by copies of patent No. 334 and advertisements.
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: Fix Watch Co. Le Locle
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The movement of this timepiece is based on Swiss patent No. 334, delivered on January 8th, 1889, to Charles Barbezat-Baillot, Le Locle, for a “Perfectionnements apportés à la construction des mécanismes de répétition pour montres de poche de toutes dimensions” (improvements to the construction of the mechanisms of repetition for pocket watches of all sizes). This patent includes, in particular, the centrifugal force regulator to regulate the speed of the repetition mechanism.
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Charles Barbezat-Baillot. The company C. Barbezat-Baillot in Le Locle, Switzerland, was founded by Charles Barbezat-Baillot (1847-1938). He was the elder brother of Henri Barbezat-Bôle (1851-1921), the founder of H. Barbezat-Bôle S.A. in Le Locle. Charles holds many patents related to inventions in watchmaking and registers numerous trademarks: Trusty, Le Phare, Dixi, Fix Watch Co. etc.
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Joyero y Relojero Internacional El Trust, Madrid. This Madrilenian watchmaker and jeweller, located at Puerta del Sol 12, is managed by D. Modesto Largo Alvarez in the early 20th century. It then markets the watches from Fix Watch Co. exclusively for Spain. 

Fix Watch Co. was a registered trademark of C. Barbezat-Baillot in Le Locle, Switzerland, then, worldwide best known for its timepieces under the brand name Le Phare (lighthouse), which were fitted with a centrifugal force regulator for repeaters after Swiss patent No. 334.

It’s probably for commercial reasons that Fix Watch Co. provided El Trust with the best of its production, including models with a minute repeater, chronograph with recorder and perpetual or triple calendar.

In the 1920s, the Spanish retailer, that in the meantime opened a store in San Sebastian, Basque Country too, offered its customers watches by Longines, including pieces with a repeater repeating the minutes on three gongs, known as a carillon or chime, and by Patek Philippe, a manufacturer of which El Trust is still depositary in the 1950s. During the War of Spain, the retailer emigrated to Argentina, Buenos Aires, in 1936. The house was then in the hands of C. Pellegrini, Esq. Corrientes.