Swiss minute repeating calendar watch with chronograph Circa 1890

Gold, enamel, diamond, and pearl-set watch by West End Watch Co.
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A Swiss gold, enamel, diamond, and pearl-set triple calendar minute repeating half-hunting cased keyless lever chronograph watch with moon phases made for the Indian market, circa 1890. The watch features an unsigned frosted gilded movement with lever escapement, a bimetallic compensation balance, and two polished steel hammers repeating on coiled gongs. The dial is white enamel with Arabic numerals, a pearled outer gilt minute ring, and apertures for day and month. It also includes subsidiary dials for the date and seconds combined with an aperture for moon phases, blued steel hands, and gold chronograph seconds. Signed West End Watch Co. and marked Extra in red.
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The case is made of 18k gold, and both covers are heavily decorated. It has a glazed aperture to the front, surrounded by translucent blue guilloché enamel and white enamel Roman numerals, bordered by split pearls. The bezel features blue guilloché enamel trefoils heightened with enamel-painted flowers and interspersed by green guilloché enamel panels heightened with diamond-set floral sprays. The case back is similarly decorated with a central blue guilloché enamel reserve and a diamond-set floral spray. The blue enamel band is heightened by gold flowers with white banding, and it includes a repeating slide and chronograph pusher to the band. There are adjusters for hand-set, day, date, month, and moon phases beneath the bezel, and the cover is numbered G 441286 64 and stamped W within a star for West End Watch Co., Swiss hallmarks to the cuvette.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: West End Watch Co.
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The movement is operational, with a functioning chronograph and repeating features. All calendar functions are advancing correctly, and the adjusters are operational. The dial has a very small chip below ‘Extra’ in the date dial but is otherwise in good condition. The case is generally in good overall condition but has some chipping to the lower right-hand green enamel panel of the case back, and the bottom trefoil blue panel. Additionally, one diamond is missing from the lower left-hand panel of the case back. There are also some small chips and losses to the enamel at the base of the band by the hinge. The cuvette appears to have been rhodium plated or similar over yellow gold, with a polished white surface and yellow gold interior with wear to the rims. The cuvette is numbered G4128 64; inside case back G 4412 64; the first number 4 is scratched and possibly missing the 8 due to piercing for the diamonds. The front cover is numbered G441286 64, with the first number 4 and the first number 6 scratched.
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The West End Watch Company was established in 1886 by Arnold Amstutz and Constant Droz, who were the owners of the firm Alcide Droz & Sons at the time. The company was located in Saint-Imier (Canton of Bern). Inspired by the London district of the West End, Arnold Charpié, who was working as a representative for Alcide Droz & Sons in Bombay, named the company.
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In 1886, Amstutz and Droz started selling watches under the brand name West End Watch Company in the Indian market and also developed the first waterproof pocket watch ever produced: L’Impermeable. One of these pocket watches is now exhibited at the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds. During the First World War, the West End Watch Company provided West End watches to British and Indian soldiers who were sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf and on to Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).
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In 1917, the West End Watch Company changed its name to Société des Montres West End SA and relocated its headquarters to Geneva. In the same year, the company registered the Sowar brand name. In 1934, Société des Montres West End SA became the first company to use Incabloc shock protection.