Swiss gold chronometer with spherical balance spring Circa 1865

Hunting cased watch for the South American market by Girard & Company
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A Swiss pocket chronometer with pivoted detent escapement and rare spherical balance spring, for the South American market, circa 1865. The movement of this watch is a precursor of Girard- Perregaux famous three-bridge movements.
18 Carat gold, polished, à goutte case with a costly engraved gold dome. Signed enamel dial with radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, and gemstone-set arrow-shaped hands. Keywind, nickel-plated bridge movement with Geneva Stripes decoration, pink gold train, bimetallic chronometer balance with two regulation screw nuts, two screws and two trapezoidal weights, blued spherical balance spring, and chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 119 g
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Signed: Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux de Fonds,
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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