Swiss pocket watch with pivoted detent escapement Circa 1890

Silver half hunting cased pocket watch by Clémence Freres
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A Swiss silver half hunting cased pocket watch with pivoted detent escapement, circa 1890. A fine, top-quality pocket chronometer in striking condition, featuring a pivoted detent escapement and a cylindrical blued hairspring; all bearings including the minute wheel are set in screwed gold chatons.
Silver case with maker’s mark “CcE Fres”. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, a sunk subsidiary dial for constant seconds and blued steel hands. It has a 2/3 plate movement and a screw compensation balance.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 139 g
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Signed: Clémence Freres, Chaux-de-Fonds
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Clémence Freres at Rue de la Promenade in Chaux-de-Fonds had branches in Les-Bois, in London (at 11, Southampton Row), in America and in Stockholm. The company specialised in watches that featured chronograph function, perpetual calendar, alarm and even grande sonnerie. In December 1888 they received a Swiss patent no. 258, for a detent escapement.
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Joseph Auguste Clemence (1843-1915) moved to London circa 1865 and became a British citizen; he became director of the company’s London office. He later went into partnership with George Carley; many of their fine watches were submitted for testing at Greenwich and Kew. Joseph Auguste Clemence eventually became a prominent member of the Clockmakers’ Company and of the British Horological Institute and was well respected in the London watchmaking world.