Swiss gold Art Deco Royal presentation watch Circa 1930

Gold open faced lever by Hausmann & Co
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A Swiss 18K yellow gold open faced Art Deco Royal presentation pocket watch, circa 1930. Gilded brass movement with going barrel, straight-line lever escapement, keyless winding, compensated balance with gold poising screws, blued steel hairspring with a terminal curve.
Champagne-coloured dial with black Arabic hours, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds at 6 and blued steel Breguet hands. Round-shaped case, the back with the royal blue enamelled cypher VE a royal crown above, the cypher of Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of the Albanians. Dial and case signed.
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Diameter: 49.5 mm
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Signed: Hausmann & Co
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A presentation watch is a watch offered by, or on its behalf, a ruler/leader such as an Emperor, a King, President, Prime Minister, Company Director, etc. as an acknowledgement or thanks to a third person.
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Vittorio Emanuele III was born on November 11, 1869, in Naples and died on December 28, 1947, in Alexandria, Egypt. King of Italy (1900-1946), Emperor of Ethiopia (1936-1941) and King of the Albanians (1939-1943). After a mainly military education, he came suddenly to the throne in 1900 after the assassination of his father, King Umberto I (1844-1900). A tractable constitutional monarch, he accepted a Liberal cabinet and readily acquiesced in Italy’s war against the Ottoman empire in 1911 and entered World War I in 1915. When the war’s strains put on the parliamentary system brought Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) to the fore, Victor Emmanuel failed to prevent the Fascist seizure of power. However, it lay in his hands merely by signing the decree of martial law proposed by the cabinet. He was quickly reduced to a figurehead or less by the Il Duce dictatorship. Still, in 1943, following disastrous Italian military reverses in World War II, capped by the Allied invasion of Sicily, Victor Emmanuel surprised the world by having Mussolini arrested and installing Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956) as premier. The move failed to extricate Italy from the war or the King’s difficult position. Finally, on June 5, 1944, the day after the Allied liberation of Rome, he named his son Crown Prince Umberto lieutenant-general of the realm, relinquishing all power for himself but retaining his title of King.  In 1946 public opinion forced a referendum to decide between the monarchy and a republican form of government. To influence the vote in favour of the dynasty, Victor Emmanuel abdicated in favour of Umberto (May 9, 1946). Still, the referendum resulted in a victory for the republic, and both Victor Emmanuel and Umberto went into exile.
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Hausmann & Co, Rome, was initiated in 1794 out of the workshop started by Giovanni Romano Ricci at Palazzo Piombino in Piazza Colonna. In 1870, Ernst Hausmann, a young German clockmaker, joined the firm. In 1889, the shop’s headquarters were moved to a temporary office on Via Bocca di Leone. A year later, in 1890, the store’s headquarters moved to definitively to the current address of Via del Corso, 406. In 1895, Hermann Frielingsdorf, a German technician, joined the firm that became Hausmann & Co. In 1902, the company opened a store in Naples on Via Santa Brigida and Piazza de Ferrari in Genova. In 1906, the firm participated in the International Exhibition of Milano (presenting a precision pendulum clock) and received a Diploma of Honour. In 1978, a new shop opened in New York at Madison Avenue and 59th Street. In 2001, the opening of a shop on Via dei Condotti in Rome will become in 2019 the Patek Philippe Boutique di Roma. In 2010, the third store in Rome opened on Via del Bambini. In 2018, the firm and Rolex opened a new boutique on Via dei Condotti. 2019 Marks the Hausmann & Co Jubilee’s 225th anniversary (1794-2019). Today, the company represents around 20 Swiss watch brands, including Vacheron Constantin, Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, IWC, Jaeger- LeCoultre, Cartier, Breguet, F.P. Journe, Panerai, etc.