Swiss Art Nouveau watch with matching chatelaine Circa 1914

Niëllo silver open faced pocket watch by Tavannes/Cyma
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A Swiss Art Nouveau gentleman’s pocket watch with niëllo silver decoration and matching chatelaine, circa 1914. The case is made of rare niëllo silver. Silvered dial with black Arabic hours, an outer minute track with red Arabic 24 hour numerals, auxiliary seconds at 6 o’clock (the hand is missing) and blued cathedral hands. The nickel plated ½ plate movement with Geneva striping decoration, 15 jewels, adjusted, a lever escapement and monometallic screw balance. The dial is signed Tavannes Watch Co CYMA, the cuvette is engraved with prize medals, inscribed Grands Prix Bruxelles 1910 et Bern 1914 and signed CYMA, the movement is marked Swiss made.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Weight: 69 g
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Signed: Tavannes Watch Co – CYMA
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Tavannes Watch Co. was founded in 1891 by watchmaker Henri-Frédéric Sandoz from Le Locle and was named after a town. Sandoz obtained several Swiss patents to improve pocket watches.

Tavannes/Cyma produced complicated watches using the most modern machines. Around 1905, they began developing pocket chronometers with spiral springs made from a nickel steel alloy by Charles Edouard Guillaume. In 1919, a workshop was set up to manufacture pocket and marine chronometers. They also used the marine chronometer developed by Paul Ditisheim with a central second and exchangeable escapement section. The company achieved many successes with its deck watches in the chronometer competitions of the Neuchâtel Observatory. Even before World War I they began developing wristwatches. 

In 1969, the companies Cyma, Tavannes Watch Co. and DOXA merged to form Synchron AG, to which the Auréole company has belonged since 1972, but Tavannes Watch Co. has been independent again since 2008 and mainly sells watches in the USA.