Swiss gold minute repeating chronograph hunter Circa 1880

Gold lever chronometer pocket watch
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A rare Swiss, 18 Carat pink gold minute repeating hunting cased lever chronometer pocket watch, circa 1880. With a perpetual calendar, chronograph, register, moon phases and keyless cover winding to the English patent of Benjamin Haas 1873. A polished case, five-bar hinges, a co axial chronograph and a hand-setting button in the pendant. Hinged gold cuvette with engine-turned border. White enamel dial, Arabic numerals, outer minute track with five-minute Arabic numerals, outermost fifths of second divisions with gold painted numerals calibrated to 300 units, subsidiary dials for the seconds combined with days of the week, months of the four-year cycle, date combined with 30-minute register, aperture for the moon phases and black spade hands.
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A rhodium-plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, stamped with the seal of Geneva quality mark, 36 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, calibrated and counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan-neck micrometre regulator, patented winding mechanism by closing the cover which transmits the power via two levers to a ratchet wheel on the barrel arbour, a safety device disengaging the mechanism when fully wound, going train with an additional wheel driving a steel wheel fixed to the centre wheel having half the diameter of the driving one, second motion train driven from the canon pinion and advanced directly by pushing the teeth of the minute wheel. Dial, case and cuvette signed and numbered, movement numbered.

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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: Haas Neveux & Co.  Genève
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This watch is in exceptionally good condition. It would appear to be the most complicated watch by Haas Neveux with patent cover winding to be offered at auction to date. In 1873 Benjamin Haas patented a winding mechanism (English patent No. 3945 of Dec. 2, 1873). The idea was to use the energy generated by closing the front cover to wind the watch. The initial idea was improved upon; his watch features a well-developed system with a 36-hour power reserve generated by 12 closings. To achieve this, Haas changed the going train, adding a wheel, which allowed him three hours’ winding by a single closing. He designed a safety device disengaging the mechanism when fully wound, which prevents damage to the cover.
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Haas Neveux Founded in 1848 by Benjamin Haas, later becoming known as Haas Neveux & Cie, it is one of the oldest Swiss watch manufacturers. The Haas signature has always been one of the most sought-after, thanks to the impeccable standards of the company. Among their most notable creations was the first ultra-thin watch, launched at the end of the 19th century. Haas gained a reputation as a manufacturer of fine chronometers, chronographs, and highly complicated.