Swiss 18 carat yellow gold keyless pocket watch Circa 1950

Gold open faced lever pocket watch
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An elegant Swiss 18 carat yellow gold key less pocket watch, circa 1950. Accompanied by the original fitted box and certificate. A polished and brushed case. Two tone silver dial with applied yellow gold Arabic numerals, inner minute track, subsidiary seconds dial and gold baton hands. Movement with Geneva striping decoration, 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bi metallic compensation balance with gold temperature adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring adjusted to temperatures, swan neck micrometre regulator.
Dial, case and movement signed.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Signed: Vacheron & Constantin  Genève
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The case and movement are slightly scratched, and a spotted dial.
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Jean-Marc Vacheron was born in 1731 and died in 1805. He founded a watch workshop in the Geneva district of Saint Gervais in 1755. In 1785 his son Abraham took over the then-still-small company. Their watches were favoured by the nobility, clergy and wealthy merchants. Sales deteriorated dramatically during the French Revolution and Abraham found himself confronted with numerous problems. He married and attached to his name, according to tradition, his wife’s surname. Thus the name of the workshop changed to Vacheron-Girod. At the beginning of the 19th Century, Abraham’s son Jacques Barthélemy Vacheron took over management of the company, which changed the name to Vacheron-Chossat. On numerous business trips to Italy, France and Germany, Jacques Barthélemy found new customers for their sophisticated products, including pocket watches with very flat movements for the time, hunting cased watches and minute repeaters, built into expensive and elegant cases.
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In 1819, Vacheron brought in the son of a cloth merchant, François Constantin, as a partner to support the distribution of watches and the company became known as Vacheron & Constantin. Constantin had gained his first experience in the watch industry as a salesman for Jean-François Bautte and his exceptional abilities soon overcame the company’s previous financial difficulties. Sales figures rose significantly and Vacheron & Constantin began selling in New York by Jean Magnin and in New Orleans by Brey by 1830. In 1970 the ‘&’ was taken from the name, henceforth the company was called Vacheron Constantin. It is the oldest continually active watch manufacturer in the world. The brand logo is the Maltese cross. Today, Vacheron Constantin is part of the Richemont group.