Swiss gold and enamel open faced lever dress watch Circa 1926

Gold and enamel Art Deco watch by Patek Philippe
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A very fine Swiss gold and enamel open faced Art Deco Murat-Style lever pocket watch, circa 1926. Delivered to Cairelli in Rome, Italy in 1927 and sold in 1928. Accompanied by an 18 carat gold watch chain, the original presentation box and an Extract from the Archives. Flat, top quality moustache lever movement, 18 jewels, a special fine adjustment, eight adjustments, Geneva Striping decoration and hallmarked twice with the Geneva seal.
The Art Deco case has polychrome enamel decoration on both sides. Silvered dial with radial gold Breguet hours, an outer minute track, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gold Breguet hands.
Dial signed by the watchmaker and retailer, case and movement signed and numbered, the bow is punched PP.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Weight: 57 g
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Signed: Patek Philippe & Cie Genève – A. Cairelli Roma
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The company A. Cairelli was founded by Antonio Cairelli and based at 144 Via del Corso in Rome, Italy. In the 1920s, the company started as a watch repair shop.

From 1932, there was a collaboration between the German Armed Forces Ministry and several Swiss manufacturers to import watches for military use. The Swiss companies represented by Cairelli were essentially Universal Genève and Zenith, not surprising given the two houses often used the same movements in their chronographs as Reymond Frères SA previously, and Martel Watch Co produced back then, would have. Many models were completely identical, only the logo on the dial would change.

Cairelli made wristwatches, flight clocks and other mechanical instruments and supplied, among others, the Reale Aeronautica Italiana (Royal Italian Air Force). The dials of the instruments and clocks were signed with the company’s name. The design of the Cronometro TIPO CP-2 was not created by Zenith but followed the military’s very detailed catalogue of requirements. A total of around 2500 watches were made, but not all were delivered to the military. Cairelli kept about 500 watches in reserve and for replacements, which were later sold to civilians. The Zenith calibre 146 DP used here is Zenith’s first proprietary chronograph calibre based on the Martel calibre 749. It is known for its superior reliability and precision.

The A. Cairelli company was active in Rome until the 1960s.