Swiss astronomical gold watch with nine complications Circa 1912

Gold repeating dress watch made for E. Gübelin
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A very fine and extremely rare, thin and elegant Swiss, 18K yellow gold and enamel keyless dress watch with nine complications, circa 1912. Art Deco, astronomic, minute repeating, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph, progressive 60-minute register, moon phases and lunar calendar. Made for E. Gübelin, Lucerne.
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The bezels, pendant and bow are decorated with a black champlevé enamel Greek-key pattern, start/stop button in the crown, split-seconds button in the band at 11 o’clock.  Brushed silver dial with upright Arabic numerals, outer minute/seconds and fifths of a second division, Arabic five minute/seconds numerals, subsidiary dials for the months and four-year cycle concentric with the 60-minute progressive register, date and days of the week, moon phase aperture with seconds and lunar calendar. Blued steel Breguet hands. A rhodium-plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 35 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with peripheral gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan-neck micrometre regulator, visible steel chronograph work, repeating on two gongs activated by a slide on the band. Dial, case and movement signed E. Gübelin.
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Diameter: 49 mm
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Signed: Audemars Piguet  Genève
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The complicated watches of Audemars Piguet were highly prized by companies such as Gübelin because their movements were thinner and more suited to use in the dress watches that were so popular in the early 20th Century. An almost identical watch is illustrated in Audemars Piguet, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli, Wehrli, 1993. Gübelin This company began in 1854 as a family business run by Maurice Breitschmid in Lucerne, Switzerland. He first advertised as a watchmaker, and as the business grew, Breitschmid brought on his son-in-law, Jacques-Edouard Gübelin, as a partner. Gübelin eventually took over the company. He introduced jewelled watches and jewellery to the business in 1921 at the opening of their New York branch, after collaborating with the jeweller Edmond Frisch. Gübelin also opened branches in St. Moritz, Zurich, Geneva, Berne, Lugano, and Basel. Gübelin’s sons eventually entered the family business; his eldest son, Dr Edouard Gübelin, opened a gemological laboratory and made a name for himself internationally, while his youngest son, Walter, was drawn toward artistic expression and contributed to the company through his creative designs. This successful company has created superior quality clocks and watches for more than a century.