Swiss watch with an unusual movement construction Circa 1880

Gold heavy precision pocket watch by Auguste Saltzman
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A heavy, Swiss precision pocket watch with an unusual movement construction, circa 1880.
18-Carat gold, à goutte, engine-turned case, reeded band, and numbered and signed gold dome. Signed enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, auxiliary seconds, and blued Breguet hands. Nickel-plated 2/3 plate movement, decorated, gold screw compensation balance, counterpoised lever and signed: Patented Sept. 1859 and Auguste Saltzman, Chaux de Fonds, Improved Straight-line lever.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 160 g
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Signed: Auguste Saltzman
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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, Governor, emigrated to Carthage, New York. However, seven years later, 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 giant 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.
In 1857 Saltzman went into partnership with the designer and inventor Charles Ed. Jacot in La Chaux de Fonds; they applied for several 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.