Swiss silver and niëllo snake skin design pocket watch Circa 1930

Silver open faced lever
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A rare Swiss sterling silver and niëllo finished snake skin design pocket watch, circa 1930. A solid, polished, knurled case band and bow, the case back with a niëllo finished back snake skin design, and a bezel to match the back. Matte silver dial with painted Breguet numerals, outer minute track, sunk subsidiary seconds dial and blued steel Breguet hands. Gilt brass movement, 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, micrometric swan neck regulator. Dial, case and movement signed.
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Thickness: 12 mm
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Signed: International Watch Co.  Schaffhausen
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International Watch Company Schaffhausen (IWC) was founded in 1868 by Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916), an American engineer and watchmaker from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been a director of E. Howard & Co, Boston, America’s leading watchmaking company at the time. He established the company intending to combine modern engineering technology from the U.S. with the craftsmanship of the Swiss to manufacture high-quality watches exclusively for the American market. Then, wages in Switzerland were relatively low although there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labour mainly carried out by people in their homes.
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Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French-speaking Switzerland. People feared for their jobs and the work they did at home because he wanted to open a factory. In 1850 the town of Schaffhausen was in danger of being left behind in the Industrial Age. At this stage, watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser built Schaffhausen’s first hydroelectric plant and laid the cornerstone for future industrialization. He probably met Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans. Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturer in north east Switzerland: the International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.