Swiss gold watch with dark blue enamel crown Circa 1915

Gold open faced lever watch
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A very fine Swiss 18K gold and enamel keyless pocket watch with the original velvet-covered fitted presentation box, circa 1915. Mounted with the cypher and crown of Victor Emmanuel. King Victor Emmanuel of Italy Presentation Watch by Hausmann & Co., Rome, made in Switzerland. Frosted, curved bezel, the hinged back cover decorated with the translucent dark blue enamel cypher and crown of Victor Emmanuel.

Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial, black Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds, blued steel spade hands. Frosted gilt movement, jewelled to the third wheel, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Dial, cuvette and movement signed.
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Diameter: 49 mm
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Signed: Hausmann & Co. Swiss
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Victor Emmanuel Victor Emmanuel, the son of King Umberto I, was born in Naples, Italy, in 1869. He came to the throne when his father was assassinated at Monza in 1900. He was so small that he was nicknamed the ‘dwarf’ by Kaiser Wilhelm II. On the First World War outbreak, Victor Emmanuel agreed with his government that Italy should remain neutral. However, at a secret meeting held in England on 26th April 1915, representatives of the Italian government agreed to enter the war in return for financial help and the granting of land currently under the control of Austria-Hungary. After a series of riots in 1922, the king appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister in an attempt to prevent a communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini headed a coalition of fascists and nationalists, and the parliamentary government continued until the murder of the socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti, in 1924. During Mussolini’s period in power, Victor Emmanuel has created Emperor of Ethiopia (1936) and King of Albania (1939). In July 1943, faced with an Allied invasion, the king forced Benito Mussolini to resign. Victor Emmanuel withdrew from public life and hoped that the Italian people would accept his son, Umberto, as the new king. Victor Emmanuel abdicated in May 1946, but his son was rejected in a referendum, and Italy became a republic. Victor Emmanuel III died in exile in Egypt in 1947.