Fine Swiss gold minute repeating chronograph Circa 1900

Gold watch decorated with serpent
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A fine and large Swiss, 18 carat gold minute repeating keyless pocket watch, circa 1900.  An engraved and chased Art Nouveau case with chronograph, date and register.
White enamel dial with Roman numerals. Subsidiary dials for seconds and the days of the week with blued steel hands. Straight line lever escapement.

The dial and cuvette are signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Le Phare (C. Barbezat-Baillot)  Le Locle
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The Le Phare watch manufactory was founded in 1888 in Le Locle, Switzerland, high in the Neuchâtel mountains. The company, which later launched the Jean d’Eve watch range, has left its mark on the story of Swiss watchmaking. Indeed, from as early as 1889 its watches were rewarded by the most eminent prizes, a gold medal at the National Exhibition of 1896 in Geneva followed that of 1889 at the Great Universal Exhibition in Paris.
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In 1897 the silent regulator was invented. A veritable technological marvel that overcame the humming problems beset by the repeater watches of the day. This brought another gold medal for Le Phare at the Paris Great Exhibition of 1900. The company continued to develop and in 1970 was the second-largest producer of chronograph watches in Switzerland. The strategy of the management is to take maximum advantage of its remarkable know-how to develop new ways of measuring time.