Unusual Swiss gold hunting cased lever chronograph Circa 1880

Gold keyless lever pocket watch 
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A very fine and unusual Swiss 18K yellow gold hunting cased independent split seconds keyless lever pocket watch with quarter-second foudroyante, circa 1880. A solid, polished case. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, 1/5th seconds chronograph divisions, sunk 1/4th second diablotine and blued steel Breguet hands. A nickel-silver movement, Geneva striping decoration, double train, 25 jewels, straight-line calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, independent split seconds train with push-pieces on the band. Dial and movement signed, case numbered.
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: Jules Huguenin Le Locle
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Jules Huguenin lived and worked in Le Locle in Switzerland’s Jura Mountain area during the second half of the 19th century. He specialized in complicated watches with a double train, split-seconds chronograph and watches with a foudroyante or diablotine feature.
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The feature known as a diablotine is a small subsidiary dial on a chronograph or independent centre seconds pocket watch, the hand of which moves in a jumping manner at intervals of 1/4 or 1/5th of a second. The term literally means ‘little devil’. The diablotine is halted when the chronograph or centre seconds is stopped and the fractions of a second can be read.