Swiss gold minute repeating split-seconds chronograph Circa 1910

Gold repeating chronograph with open face by C. H. Meylan
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Very fine and rare keyless winding, open faced, round shaped Swiss pocket watch in 18 Carat pink gold with four horological complications, circa 1910, made for Henry Birks & Sons Limited, Montréal (Canada).
This minute repeater on two steel gongs has a single push piece chronograph and split-seconds chronograph. A rhodium plated movement with going barrel, straight line equilibrated lever escapement, cut compensated balance and blued steel hairspring with a terminal curve, index regulator with swan neck spring and micrometric screw, and fine adjustment. A silver guilloché engine-turned dial with Roman radial hours, outer minutes/seconds track, a subsidiary dial for the seconds at 6, a 30 minute recorder on a subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock, and gold spade hands. And a case back engraved in taille-douce (fine cut) with the cypher  A.E.D. Signature on the dial. Accompanied with copies of the invention patent.
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Diameter: 49 mm
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Weight: 102 g
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Signed: Henry Birks & Sons Limited
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The movement of this watch was made with a calibre especially built by C.H. Meylan for his chronograph with an unusual column wheel, patented in 1880. « Superior Adjustment » refers to a movement finished with eight adjustments and 39 or 40 jewels. The present watch is the most complicated version of those that the brand usually marketed, in addition to the patented chronograph (1880), a minute recorder, a split-seconds chronograph and a minute repeater (patented in 1888).
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Henry Birks and Sons were founded in 1879 by Henry Birks (1840-1928) as a jewellery store in Montreal; his three sons became partners in the business in 1893. From these humble origins developed a national enterprise with five generations of Birks working for it. The Birks Group still exists today and has its headquarters in Montreal.
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Ch.H. Meylan Watch Co. Swiss watch manufacturer.
The Ch.H. Meylan Watch Co. was founded around 1880 by Charles Henri Meylan in Le Brassus. The office was at 4 Quai des Eaux-Vives in Geneva, now Quai Gustave-Ador. The company produced chronograph movements or rattrapante movements (installed under the dial!), repetition movements and perpetual calendars. Complicated and flat pocket watches and chronometers of very high quality were also manufactured, and wristwatches were added later. Minute tourbillons were also ordered as further highlights of the small factory. One of the most important exporters was the Mathey Frères, whom Meylan had been in contact with since the early 1870s. 1894 received first prize in the Geneva Observatory competition for a pocket watch with chronometer escapement.
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In addition to the works for their watches under the brand name Ch.H. Meylan Watch Co., or simply Meylan, used to sell many movements to wholesalers, small buyers and exporters. In addition to the bulk buyers Waltham, Mathey Frères and Tiffany & Co., the dealer’s Birks, NE Whiteside & Co., and later Henry Blank, Newburger, Starr and Vanderslice were also among the customers in America – and the Swiss Jaccard and Leonville, among others, joined them. In Germany, Ch.H. Meylan Watch Co. as well as Jean Moïse Badollet & Cie. works to Ferdinand Denker. A cooperation with the important manufacturer Badollet in Geneva and Le Brassus also existed, so there are complicated Badollet pocket watches with Meylan movements. From 1900, pocket watches with cases made of gold and platinum and those set with diamonds and enamel decorations were offered. Mann exported a very significant part of his watch production to the U.S.A. The company also refined movements for leading companies such as Vacheron & Constantin, Patek Philippe and Jules Jürgensen.
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In 1903 the company was taken over by Ch.H. Meylan and converted into a public limited company. As long as the company’s founder, Charles Henri Meylan, was still alive, third party movements were not used. It was not until the late 1920s that stopwatches and chronographs with high-quality Lemania movements appeared. Max Meylan continued the business, and from 1966 C.H. Meylan traded under the brand name of Baume & Mercier.