Swiss 18k gold minute repeating automaton watch Circa 1900

Gold hunting cased lever pocket watch
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A very fine Swiss 18K gold minute repeating keyless hunting cased pocket watch with automaton jacks, circa 1900. The case is fully engraved with flowers and foliage, the front cover with a vacant cartouche, and the interior of the covers with engine-turned decoration. Hinged gold cuvette and gold-rimmed glazed cover over the movement.

Two-piece, silvered dial with applied gold foliate border, foliate engraved chapter ring with painted radial Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds, the centre with two opposing polychrome painted blacksmith jacks standing at an anvil and hammering the work when the repeating is activated. Blued steel Notched hands. A rhodium-plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 29 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, palladium Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Cuvette and case signed.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Signed: Felipe Hecht Genève
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Jean Samuel Rossel, Felipe Hecht Jean Samuel Rossel, the son-in-law of Jean François Bautte, formed a partnership called “Jean François Bautte & Cie.” to perpetuate the founder’s vision. By 1883, Jean Samuel’s son Jacques had become the sole owner of the company, then called “J. Rossel Fils”. After his death in 1887, he was succeeded by Felipe Hecht and later his son Juan. In 1906, Juan Hecht turned over all his interests in the company to his friend and relative Constant Girard-Gallet, the owner of Girard-Perregaux & Cie.