Swiss minute repeating watch with chronograph Circa 1890

Gold hunting cased pocket watch attributed to LeCoultre
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A very fine Swiss hunting cased pocket watch with minute repeater and chronograph with jumping 30-minute counter, circa 1890.
18-Carat rose gold à goutte case with a gold dome, pusher for chronograph at 12 and slide for repeating mechanism. Enamel dial with Arabic Empire numerals, auxiliary seconds, 30 min. counter, central 60 sec. counter and spade hands. Bridge movement, base calibre 42, frosted, gilt, finely ground, bevelled chronograph steel parts, ratchet wheel, two hammers, two gongs, gold screw compensation balance, counterpoised lever.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 132 g
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Signed: No name
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The watch is unusual in combining LeCoultre’s patented repeating system (1895) with an instantaneous minute register mechanism patented by Lugrin in 1896. LeCoultre had its own instantaneous minute register patent going back to 1892. The difference is slim – LeCoultre’s design instantaneously pulls the register wheel one tooth every minute while Lugrin’s pushes. LeCoultre’s decided to experiment in this watch with a different system. Interestingly, 19 years after LeCoultre’s patent, in 1911, Robert Cart patented a mechanism for an instantaneous register, which became a norm in modern chronographs. This system was a simplified version of LeCoultre’s design.