Swiss heavy 14 carat pink gold full hunter cased watch Circa 1900

Pocket watch with lever escapement in original box  
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A heavy pink gold full hunter cased watch in original box made by Chopard in Sonvillier, Switzerland, circa 1900. The numbered case of this watch is crafted from 14 carat gold and has a monogram on the front lid. The white enamel dial has black (1 – 12) and red (13 – 24) Arabic hour numerals, a subsidiary seconds dial with black Arabic numerals at six o’clock and gold hands. The fine precision movement has a lever escapement.
Dial, movement and box signed.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 103 g
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Signed: L.U.C.                
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Chopard
Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A., commonly known as Chopard, is a Swiss manufacturer and retailer of luxury watches, jewellery and accessories. Founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, Switzerland, the company has been owned by the German family Scheufele since 1963. Chopard is best known for making high quality Swiss watches and jewellery and its clients have included Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The company is headquartered in Geneva and has a site in Fleurier, Canton of Neuchâtel, that manufactures watch movements.

The company founder, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, was a Swiss watchmaker who grew up in Sonvilier, a town in the Swiss Jura. In 1860, he established his L.U.C. manufacturing company in Sonvilier, having observed that it was more profitable to market the finished watch than to just make the mechanical movement.

After Louis-Ulysse died in 1915, the company was taken over by his son Paul-Louis and grandson Paul-André. The company specialised in making pocket watches and ladies’ wristwatches. In 1921, Paul-Louis moved the company operations to La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Canton of Neuchâtel. In 1937, at that time a company of 150 employees, the company relocated to Geneva. This enabled the movements made by the company to be certified with the Geneva Seal, a mark applied only to watch movements made in the Canton of Geneva. Paul-André took over the company in 1943.

In 1963, having no children wishing to continue in the business, Paul-André Chopard sold it to Karl Scheufele III, a German goldsmith and watchmaker from Pforzheim, who was seeking a watch movement manufacturer exclusively for his own business.