Swiss minute repeating watch with Grande Sonnerie Circa 1900

Self-strike hunting cased pocket watch by Charles Edward Lardet
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A fine, almost as new, Swiss heavy minute repeating hunting cased pocket watch with quarter-hour/hour self-strike – Grande Sonnerie and Petite Sonnerie with an original mahogany box with bone shield, circa 1900.
18-carat gold case with a monogram, gold dome, turnable pendant, slide for repeating mechanism and lever for choosing between Grande or Petite Sonnerie at 6. Signed enamel dial with Arabic numerals, auxiliary seconds and blued spade hands. 4/5 plate movement, frosted, gilt, screwed chatons, signed, 2 barrels, English lever escapement, free-sprung blued balance spring, gold screw comp. balance, diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 171 g
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Signed: Charles Edward Lardet Fleurier
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Lardet, Charles Edouard, Swiss watch manufacturer
Charles Ed (ouard) Lardet was born in Fleurier in Switzerland in 1832. The company he founded was also listed as CEL in 1891, CH Bovet-Lardet and Louis Lardet in 1897. Since these brand names are also listed in Arabic letters, some watches were probably exported to Arab countries. What is certain is that Charles Ed. Lardet delivered watches to Spain. The company won a bronze medal at the 1878 World’s Fair in Paris. The company purchased watches from Louis Audemars, among others.
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The company had a watch workshop in Madrid; the painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) painted a scene that resulted from Hodler’s stay in Spain between October 1878 and June 1879. From letters, it is known that Lardet supported the stay in Madrid as a sponsor of the young artist. For example, today, in the Lucerne Art Museum, we find a nice and accurate view of a watch workshop by the most important Swiss painter of the 19th century. The interior represents the workshop of Charles Edouard Lardet, a watchmaker from Neuchâtel, at Plaza de la Provincia 3 in Madrid. Today this picture is in oil on canvas in the Lucerne Art Museum. Lardet was probably depicted here himself.
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Charles Edouard Lardet was born in Fleurier in 1832 . Named Swiss Vice-Consul in Spain from 1875 to 1876, he was Consul General from 1877. Lardet died in Madrid in 1904.