Swiss rose gold hunting cased complicated watch Circa 1910
- Kenmerk
- FA0476
- Diameter
- 55 mm
- Estimate
- € 6.000 - 12.000
- Price sold
- € 14.600
Rose gold full hunter with seven complications
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A Swiss 18 carat rose gold hunting cased Art Nouveau chronograph keyless lever pocket watch with seven horological complications, circa 1910. Retailed by El Trust, Madrid. Gilded brass movement with a straight line lever escapement, going barrel, compensated balance and blued steel hairspring with a terminal curve. White enamel dial with Arabic hours, an outer minute and fifth of a second track with Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary dials, a chronograph hand and blued spade hands. The case back and cover are engraved in taille douce, guilloché engine turned and decorated with a neo classical décor.
This timepiece features seven 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 and the date at 3, central days of the week and months of the year in Spanish, auxiliary seconds with concentric phases of the moon at 9 o’clock.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Fix Watch Co.
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Accompanied by the patented, original fitted box, a long gold watch chain, copies of patent No. 334 and advertisements. The presentation box allows to trigger the repetition when it is locked.
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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.
Signed: Fix Watch Co.


























