Rare unusual Swiss gold minute repeating watch Circa 1920

Gold minute repeating open faced watch
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A rare and unusual Swiss yellow gold minute repeating open faced watch with patented case design made in 1920. Jeweled nickel lever movement, mono-metallic compensation balance, two hammers repeating on two gongs, silvered dial, painted Breguet numerals, subsidiary seconds, 18k yellow gold case, reeded case band which functions as the repeater slide when rotated, extensive engraving to the case back, case, dial and movement signed.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Signed: Audemars Piguet
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Audemars Piguet confirms production of the present lot in 1920 and its sale in 1922.

The ingenious design of the present lot features a minute repeating ‘slide’ re-imagined as a rotating band around the entire circumference of the bezel. Patented in 1913 by Audemars Piguet under Swiss Confederation Patent No. 64738, the invention was titled the ‘Boite perfectionnée pour montres à répétition’ (case perfected for repeating watches). For collectors of rare complicated watches, and connoisseurs of minute repeating watches, the present example offers an infrequently seen technical design of great horological importance.

The engraving on the case back reads ‘Presented to Phillip H. Penna by Indiana Bituminous Coal Operators Association in Appreciation of Services 1900-1928.’ Phillip Penna was an important figure in American labor organization at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. From 1895-1896, he served as president of the United Mine Workers of America, and from 1900 to 1928, he led the Indiana Bituminous Coal Operators Association. The coal miner union was and continues to be an important force in American labor organization. Penna served during a particularly difficult economic period, and was an early activist and leading figure of a group which continues to have great social, economic and political power.