Thin Swiss 18K gold open faced lever pocket watch Circa 1920

Gold pocket watch by Audemars Piguet
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A thin Swiss 18 carat gold open faced lever pocket watch, circa 1920. Retailed by Cartier in Paris, France. The movement with a lever escapement, 19 jewels and seven adjustments. A polished cuvette. Silvered dial with hour batons and Roman XII, III and IX, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and decorative hands. A plain case. Dial signed Cartier, case and movement numbered and signed by the watchmaker.
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Diameter: 42 mm
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Signed: Audemars Piguet & Co Swiss
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Cartier was founded by Louis-François Cartier. He was born in 1810. In 1847, Louis-François took over the jewellery shop of his teacher Adolphe Picard at 31 Rue de Montreuil, Paris. It is a French jewellery house specializing in making very luxurious jewellery such as rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and watches.
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Audemars Piguet & Cie. Jules Louis Audemars, born on March 28th, 1851 and died on October 15th, 1918 and Edward Auguste Piguet, born in 1853 and died in 1919 were two young and ambitious watchmakers who established their workshop in 1875 in their home village Le Brassus, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. Audemars was in charge of production and technical aspects while Piguet focused on sales and management. Believing in the power of the Vallée de Joux’s network of artisanship and following their firm convictions, they set on crafting unique complicated mechanisms by hand at a time when serial production was looming with the rise of industrialisation.

While the two entrepreneurs first produced complicated movements that were sold to Geneva-based firms, they soon orchestrated the production of complete watches in the region by coordinating the activities of a variety of craftsmen, buying in blanks, cases, dials, bracelets and sending out pieces for gem-setting and decorating. The miniaturisation, design, assembly and setting of movements were then done at Audemars Piguet’s workbenches. The company ledgers demonstrate that nearly 80% of the 1600 watches produced by Audemars Piguet between 1882 and 1892 included at least one, if not several complications. Refined chiming, chronograph and astronomical watches, assembled and finished by hand, have remained the beating heart of Audemars Piguet ever since.