Extreme rare Swiss gunmetal chronograph lever watch Circa 1900

Open faced lever watch
–
An extremely rare Swiss gunmetal open faced keyless chronograph lever watch, circa 1900. Gilt quality lever movement, plain cock with polished steel regulator, bi metallic compensation balance with blue steel hairspring.
Plain gunmetal outer case.
White enamel dial with centre second hand and three subsidiary dials, for seconds, time and register.
–
Diameter: 54 mm
–
Weight: 102 g
–
Signed: Brevet
–
A very rare pocket watch with a chronograph function. This pocket watch does not only show the minutes recorded by the chronograph but also the full hours meaning this pocket watch was made for those who were required to time very long intervals, most likely because of someone’s job (mariner, observatory etcetera).

Not to be mistaken with a ‘normal’ chronograph, this high quality piece times to 1/5 decimal of a second, minutes, and up to 12 hours. Compared to your usual chronograph that times up to 30 minutes this is a big difference, not only in numbers but also considering the fact that it is quite a bit more complicated.

The white enamel dial is absolutely flawless with a sub dial on the left side with the line ‘Temps Vrai’ above meaning ‘True Time’ showing the hour and minutes of the day. On the right side, we see another sub dial with ‘Compteur’ written above meaning the ‘Counter’ of the chronograph. A centred sweep chronograph seconds hand and decentralized ‘normal’ seconds hand.

The case is made of strong gunmetal with thick lids closing correctly. Some wear to be found here and there but nothing unusual.

The movement shows to be made of high quality with fine finishing and large red rubies.
Winds and ticks as she should as well as the chronograph function which resets perfectly back to 12 o’clock.
–
Reference 016000