Swiss gold pocket watch with early chronograph Circa 1875-1878

Chronograph with portraits on cuvette by Charles-Edouard Lardet   
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An early Swiss 18K yellow gold open faced lever pocket watch with chronograph, circa 1875-1878. Retailed by P.L. Pechemiel, Madrid, Spain, dated 1878.
Round-shaped case, guilloché back, engraved in taille-douce (fine cut) with the cypher SFR. The cuvette with two painted enamel portraits of a gentleman and a lady against a florally engraved background. White enamel dial with radial Roman hours, Arabic five minutes, subsidiary dial for the constant seconds, fleur-de-lys hands and central chronograph hand. Gilded brass movement, going barrel, straight-line equilibrated lever escapement, keyless-winding, compensated balance with gold poising screws, blued steel hairspring with a terminal curve, an early 1/5 second in-view chronograph mechanism with detent-type levers and gold wheels, chronograph activated through the winding crown. Dial numbered and signed by the retailer, movement numbered and signed by the watchmaker.
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Diameter: 53.6 mm
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Signed: Charles Edouard Lardet
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Charles Edouard Lardet, Swiss watch manufacturer
Charles Ed(ouard) Lardet was born in 1832 in Fleurier, Switzerland. The company he founded was also listed as CEL in 1891, CH Bovet-Lardet and Louis Lardet in 1897. Since these brand names are also listed in Arabic letters, some watches were probably exported to Arabic countries. What is certain is that he delivered watches to Spain. His company won a bronze medal at the 1878 World Exhibition in Paris. The company had a watch workshop in Madrid. The painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) painted a scene that followed Hodler’s stay in Spain between October 1878 and June 1879. We know from letters that Lardet supported the young artist’s stay in Madrid as a patron. Today, in the Lucerne Art Museum, we find a charming and precise view of a watch workshop by the most important Swiss painter of the 19th century. The interior represents the workshop of the Neuchâtel-born watchmaker Charles Edouard Lardet at 3 Plaza de la Provincia in Madrid. This oil on canvas painting is now in the Kunstmuseum Luzern. Lardet himself was probably depicted here.
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Charles Edouard Lardet was appointed Swiss Vice-Consul in Spain from 1875 to 1876, he was Consul General from 1877. Lardet died in Madrid in 1904.