Swiss 18K gold minute repeating chronograph watch Circa 1900

Gold, enamel and pearl set lever watch
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A fine Swiss 18 carat yellow gold, enamel and pearl set hunting cased minute repeating chronograph watch made for the Chinese market by Levy Hermanos in Hong Kong, circa 1900. The gilt jewelled movement with a lever escapement. White enamel dial with Roman hour numerals, an outer minute track with Arabic five minute numerals and fifth of a seconds division, and subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. Both bezels are set with pearls, the case band decorated with blue enamel and gold crosses, both the front and reverse with a polychrome enamel scene on a translucent blue enamelled guilloché ground, one depicting a lady and child playing instruments, the other with a lady and child holding a bouquet and a push button to activate the repeating, Cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Levy Hermanos Hong Kong
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The Philippine watchmaking company Levy Hermanos (Levy Brothers) was founded by Adolphe (1849-1888), Charles (1854-1899) and Raphaël, sons of merchant Nathan Moïse Lévy (1813-1892) and Louise Blum (1819-1895). During the 1870 Franco-German War, the brothers fled from their native village, Marckolsheim in the Alsace-Lorraine region, France, via San Francisco in California, U.S.A., to Iloilo, Western Visayas in the Philippines. When they arrived in 1873, they were among the first Jewish families in the Philippines. Adolphe died of cholera in Manila on June 13, 1888.
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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the company was active in Manila, Singapore and Paris, and had a Hong Kong branch at 10 Queen’s Road, Central. Over the years, Levy Hermanos opened branches in Shanghai, Tientsin, Port Arthur, Kharbin and Bombay.