Swiss pocket repeater with early automatic winding Circa 1810

Important gold gentleman’s pocket watch by Du Bois & fils
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A Swiss important quarter repeating gentleman’s pocket watch with early automatic winding, circa 1810.
Signed, 18 Carat pink gold engine-turned case with reeded band and case maker’s punch mark PHPI. Signed enamel dial with Arabic hours and blued Breguet hands. Frosted gilt full plate movement with two hammers / two gongs, three-arm ring balance, regulator scale, and oscillating weight winding.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Weight: 106 g
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Signed: Du Bois & fils
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Du Bois & Fils
In 1785 Philippe Du Bois and his sons founded the Du Bois & Fils 1785 watch company at the family seat in Le Locle. Du Bois had already established extensive business connections all over Europe and America as a cloth merchant, which made things much easier for the start-up watch company. During the 19th century, Du Bois & Fils opened branches in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States and business boomed. Due to its proximity to the trade fairs, the Germany Frankfurt branch was particularly important.
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At the time DuBois & Fils was one of the most important établisseurs of the Le Locle region. He employed a relatively large number of independent artisans. His account books, preserved by the family, show that he sold watches of all types throughout nearly all of Europe, as well as in the United States, the Middle and the Far East, and even as far as China.
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While certain of their watches are signed, mostly bear the signature of the wholesaler, the importer, or the retailer. All these watches, whether or not they have repeating mechanisms, and whatever their signature, were produced in Switzerland. They are among the best watches of the kind made at the time.