Swiss gold repeater with stoppable centre seconds Circa 1875

Gold hunting cased minute repeater by Auguste Saltzman
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A nearly as new, exceptionally heavy minute repeating hunting cased Swiss pocket watch with stoppable Seconde Foudroyante and stoppable independent centre seconds, circa 1875. Accompanied by original box.
18 Carat gold, engine-turned, decorated, à goutte case with a reeded band, pusher for seconds stop and slide for repeating mechanism. Numbered and signed gold dome with presentation engraving: Ephraim Owe”. Signed enamel dial with radial Roman hours, ¼ seconde foudroyant, independent jumping centre seconds with stopping device, and blued Breguet hands. Signed, nickel-plated bridge movement, Cal. Louis Audemars, with Geneva Stripes decoration, two hammers / two gongs, two barrels, gold train, Patented June 1858 Indept Quarter seconds, tandem winding with mirror polished click on the top, gold screw compensation balance, and counterpoised lever.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Weight: 225 g
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Signed: Auguste Saltzman, Chaux de Fonds
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Auguste Saltzman
The family of Auguste Napoleon Saltzman, as was his full name, came from Les Bois in the Canton of Bern. Saltzman was born there on October 11, 1810; when he was about 10, his parents Auguste and Maria Anna Saltzman, née Gouvernon, emigrated to Carthage, New York. Seven years later, however, young Auguste was sent back to Switzerland to do an apprenticeship as a watchmaker. In 1840 he was back in the US to open a watch and clock shop in State Street in Carthage; in 1845 the “A.N. Saltzman & Co.” moved to 10 Maiden Lane, New York. On June 16, 1855, the premises in Maiden Lane were destroyed in a huge explosion that occurred at fireworks manufacturers Demkins & Robins in the same building. Saltzman’s nephew and a man named Eugen T. Preudhomme died in the explosion and the total damages came to about $50,000 – of which only $10,000 were covered by insurance. As business was good, however, the losses were soon recouped.
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In 1857 Saltzman went into partnership with the designer and inventor Charles Ed. Jacot in La Chaux de Fonds; from there they applied for a number of patents for the company “A. Saltzmann, Jacot & Co.” in New York. The two partners presumably continued to sign their work individually. In 1870 the company “Saltzmann & Vuille” in Plainfield, New Jersey, was founded. In 1884 Saltzman put his home in Plainfield up for sale or rent – 12 rooms, ready-furnished, in a prime location. He left America around 1885 and moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. The date of his death is not known.
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FOUDROYANTE (JUMPING SECONDS OR HAND) (FLYING SECONDS)
On a chronograph, a hand that makes one rotation every second, pausing four, five, even eight times to indicate quarters, fifths or eighths of a second.
Also called foudroyante.