French gold repeater with grande/petite sonnerie Circa 1878

Gold hunting cased lever clockwatch 
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A large and heavy French, trip quarter repeating, two-train, 18K gold hunting cased, keyless clockwatch, circa 1878. With grande and petite sonnerie striking and tandem winding. Accompanied by the original box, a receipt from D.L. Golay and a rare autograph letter from D.L. Golay discussing the merits of this watch. Sold to Monsieur Ernest Baudry of Lille, on December 30, 1878, for 1571 Francs. A solid, polished case, slides for strike/silent and Grande/Petite sonnerie selection on the band.
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Hinged gold cuvette engraved with a monogram and technical details. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, Arabic five-minute numerals, subsidiary seconds dial, and blued steel spade hands. A rhodium-plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, two-train, tandem winding, 26 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, striking and repeating with two hammers on two gongs activated by a trip-slide on the band. Case punched with initials M.F.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: D. L. Golay  Sentier
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The present watch retains the original receipt from David Louis Golay and a particularly interesting letter from Golay informing the buyer, Monsieur Baudry, that the watch was given his attention and that he feels it would be worthy of observatory testing. The delivery of the watch and engraving of the monogram on the cuvette is discussed, and the letter gives M. Baudry operating and setting instructions. Notably, the case maker’s initials M.F. within an oval are also commonly found on the cases of watches by Louis Audemars. In Grande Sonnerie Striking, both the hours and the quarters are struck at each quarter. In Petite Sonnerie Striking, “ting tang” quarters are struck at the quarters, but the hour is only struck at the hour.
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The case and movement are scratched.