Swiss 18 Carat gold minute repeater with chronograph Circa 1910

Gold hunting cased pocket watch
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A large Swiss 18 Carat gold minute repeating hunting cased keyless pocket watch with a chronograph, circa 1910. Attributed to Le Phare C. Barbezat-Baillot, Le Locle. A polished case, the front cover with an engraved foliate monogram, the interior with further engraved monogram. Hinged gold cuvette engraved with prize medals and technical details. White enamel dial with Breguet numerals, outer minute track and outermost fifths of a second division, subsidiary seconds dial and gilt spade hands. A frosted gilt movement, 15 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, centrifugal governor, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a push button in the band.
Case numbered.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: No Name
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The Le Phare watch manufactory was founded in 1888 in Le Locle, Switzerland, high in the Neuchâtel mountains. The company, which later launched the Jean d’Eve watch range, has left its mark on the story of Swiss watchmaking. Indeed, from 1889, its watches were rewarded by the most eminent prizes, a gold medal at the National Exhibition of 1896 in Geneva followed that of 1889 at the Great Universal Exhibition in Paris. In 1897 the silent regulator was invented. A veritable technological marvel that overcame the humming problems beset the repeater watches of the day. This brought another gold medal for Le Phare at the Paris Great Exhibition of 1900. The company continued to develop and in 1970 was the second largest producer of chronograph watches in Switzerland. The management’s strategy is to take maximum advantage of its remarkable know how to develop new ways of measuring time.