Swiss rose gold watch with jumping centre seconds Circa 1878

Open gold pocket watch by Huguenin-Berthoud
–
A Swiss pocket watch with jumping seconds and chronograph, circa 1878. This watch features an 18K rose gold monogrammed case with factory glazing and a large lateral hinge. The enamel dial displays Roman radial hours, an outer minutes/seconds track with Arabic five minutes/seconds numerals, a subsidiary dial for the seconds, a centre second hand, and Breguet-style hands. The unusual bridge movement has a piston-tooth lever escapement, three blued balance springs, screw compensation balance, and an early chronograph mechanism with rocker bar drive and star wheel located above the escapement wheel.
–
Diameter: 53 mm
–
Weight: 117 g
–
Signed: Huguenin-Berthoud, Les Ponts de Martel
–
It is a very early, very unusual chronograph mechanism. The central chronograph wheel is driven every second by a ruby-bearing switching system, which is preloaded every second by a six-pointed star on the escapement wheel. Seconds are locked via three blued steel spirals, which control the lateral shift lever.
–
Huguenin-Berthoud, the watch manufacturer in Les Ponts de Martel, is one of the many small but exquisite Swiss watch manufacturers. To distinguish it from other well-known and famous manufacturers, the owners very often used to add their wife’s family name. What luck if it also has such a good sound in watch circles as in this case!