Swiss 18K gold minute repeating chronograph watch Circa 1895

Gold, enamel and pearl set lever watch
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A fine, prestigious Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel and half pearl set hunting cased minute repeating chronograph pocket watch made for the Chinese market by Sandoz in Le Locle, circa 1895. Retailed by Levy Hermanos in Hong Kong. The frosted gilt jewelled bridge movement after Swiss patent 334 is fitted with two hammers/two gongs and a screw compensation balance. White enamel dial with Roman hour numerals, an outer minute track, outermost fifth of a second divisions with Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gemstone set hands. The polished case has polychrome enamel scenes on a translucent blue enamelled guilloché ground to both the front and reverse, one depicting a lady and child playing instruments, the other with a lady and child holding a bouquet, both bezels are set with pearls and the band is decorated with blue enamel and gold crosses, a push button to activate the repeating. The cuvette is signed Levy Hermanos Hong Kong.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Weight: 149 g
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Signed: Sandoz Le Locle
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Since the 1900s, Hong Kong has been the main sales counter for China, where any notable vendor of fine art and luxury goods, such as the Levy brothers, had to have a presence.
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This timepiece is something of a rarity. Gold watches with a painted back were not common and usually came as Lépine versions, watches with a spring lid. The so-called full hunter cased watches with two sets of fine enamel work were more than twice as valuable and rarely ever sold.
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Levy Hermanos (Levy Brothers) in Hong Kong traded in watches, instruments and eventually even automobiles. They conducted business in Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore and Paris. The company was founded by brothers Adolphe, Rafael and Charles Levy. They were among the first Jewish families in the Philippines. During the Franco-German War of 1870 the brothers fled from the village of Marckolsheim in the Alsace-Lorraine region via San Francisco in California to Iloilo in the Philippines. Over the years the company opened branches in Shanghai, Tientsin, Port Arthur, Kharbin and Bombay.