Swiss gold chronometer with spherical balance spring Circa 1870

Hunting cased watch for the South American market by Girard & Company
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A Swiss chronometer with a rare spherical balance spring for the South American market, circa 1870. The movement of this watch is a precursor of Girard- Perregaux’s famous three-bridge movements.
18 Carat gold engine-turned case with a florally engraved rim, pendant and bow, engraved cartouche with monogram AK and duke’s crown, and a gold dome with signature Chronometer and engraving of a globe, a book, an olive branch, a telescope and a caduceus. Signed enamel dial with radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, and filigree stone-set hands. Keywind, frosted gilt bridge movement with pivoted detent escapement, bimetallic chronometer balance with four screws and two movable trapezoid weights, blued, spherical balance spring, and chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 114 g
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Signed: Girard & Comp., London
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Girard & Cie.
The Swiss watchmaker Constantin Othenin Girard founded the company Girard &Cie. in 1852 in La Chaux-de Fonds. In 1956 he married Marie, the sister of renowned chronometer maker Henri Perregaux; in the same year, Girard and his brother-in-law established the company Girard-Perregaux which evolved from Girard & Cie. Around 1860, Constant Girard had a small department store in London, where he exported watches marked Girard, London to Peru and Chile from; the movement of these watches had been specially gilded.