Swiss 18K gold repeater made for the Chinese market Circa 1900

Gold, enamel and pearl set lever watch
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A very fine and rare Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel and pearl set open faced minute repeating keyless pocket watch with chronograph made for the Chinese market by Le Phare, circa 1900. Retailed by Levy Hermanos in Hong Kong. A case with split pearl set bezels, the band with champlevé enamelled decoration, a polychrome enamel scene on the back of two lovers in a rustic landscape against a green enamelled guilloché ground. A hinged gold cuvette, the border engraved with foliate decoration.
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White enamel dial with Roman hour numerals, an outer minute track and fifth of a second divisions, Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gilt brass paste set hands. The gilt brass movement with 23 jewels, a straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, repeating on gongs activated by a button in the band, a centrifugal governor, chronograph with visible work and button on the winding crown. Cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Le Phare Swiss
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The Philippine watchmaking company Levy Hermanos (Levy Brothers) was founded by Adolphe (1849-1888), Charles (1854-1899) and Raphaël, sons of merchant Nathan Moïse Lévy (1813-1892) and Louise Blum (1819-1895). During the 1870 Franco-German War, the brothers fled from their native village, Marckolsheim in the Alsace-Lorraine region, France, via San Francisco in California, U.S.A., to Iloilo, Western Visayas in the Philippines. When they arrived in 1873, they were among the first Jewish families in the Philippines. Adolphe died of cholera in Manila on June 13, 1888.
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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the company was active in Manila, Singapore and Paris, and had a Hong Kong branch at 10 Queen’s Road, Central. Over the years, Levy Hermanos opened branches in Shanghai, Tientsin, Port Arthur, Kharbin and Bombay.