Swiss important and rare 18k gold lever chronometer Circa 1893

Open faced pocket watch by Alphonse Pavid
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An important and rare Swiss lever chronometer with a variation of the system Bandurski balance, circa 1893. The watch features an 18-carat gold polished case with a crest on the back, bearing the Semper Fidelis motto (always abiding). The case also has a gold dome with engraving: Chronomètre No. 1958 Systémes de Raquette & Balancier inventés & exécutes par A. Pavid Fabricant & Regléur. Diplôme de marche de Chronométre de bord obtenu à Neuchâtel en 1908. The enamel dial is signed and has radial Roman hours, outer five-minute divisions with radial Arabic minutes, and silvered auxiliary seconds. The dial is screwed and has blued Robert Roskell’s hands. The watch’s movement is a frosted gilt bridge movement with wolfteeth winding wheels, club-tooth lever escapement, a patented balance with interlocked steel and brass circlets, and six adjusting and weight screws with a blued Breguet balance spring.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Weight: 101 g
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Signed: Alphonse Pavid à Genève
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Alphonse Pavid was a maker of pocket chronometers and a regulator from Geneva. He was born on June 17, 1853, and was christened on October 3 of the same year. Alphonse’s parents were Louis Pavid and Emma Henriette Gaillard. Louis was a watchmaker and jeweler who lived in Yverdon, Faubourg de la Maison Ronge no. 14, and he was originally from Gressy and Grandson. Alphonse was confirmed on March 21, 1869. 

He worked in the workshops of Albert Potter in Geneva in the late 1870s and early 1880s. From 1884 to about 1915, Alphonse Pavid received a number of test certificates for his chronometers from the observatories in Geneva (1884, 1887-1896, 190..), Neuchatel (1908), and Kew-Teddington (JSH, several editions). During the chronometer test in 1891, Alphonse received an award for sixth place in serial testing. The five best chronometers of each maker were judged (JHS, 1891).

On April 12, 1893, Alphonse invented a regulation system with flexible balance spring studs and a bimetallic compensation balance spring in an unusual design (“steel-brass balance, System Pavid”). However, it seems like neither of these inventions was ever registered as a patent though (pocket chronometer no. 1958).

In 1894, Alphonse Pavid and Genoese precision regulators G.-Marie Rouge, Alexis Favre, J. Cordier, Charles-Auguste Paillard, and Marius Fave introduced a reform of the chronometer testing process (Gautier, 1894). In 1896, Alphonse Pavid exhibited his products at the national Swiss exhibition in Geneva and was awarded a prize with distinction in the serial tests for regulators. He ranked ninth out of nineteen with distinction (JHS, 1896). The prize was awarded for the average mark for the three best chronometers.