Le Phare Le Locle & La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland Circa 1910
Item History & Price
Gent's, 14K yellow gold, savonette, keyless, hunting case pocket watch with minute repetition, 'La Pearle' model, case no. 3*** made by Le Phare (C. BarbezatBaillot), Le Locle & La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland circa 1900 -Case: four leaf, polished 14k yellow gold hunting case pocket watch with hinged gold cuvette marked, La Perle (a model used by the Le Phare watch company with medallions won at various competitions. The outer case is engraved with an interlocking design which may be ...initials or a trademark logo perhaps. The inside of the covers reveal the 14k gold mark and the Swiss squirrel hallmark for 14k gold, the initials of the casemaker, the case serial number and the crown representing the German hallmark for solid gold, indicating that the pocket watch had been imported from Switzerland into Germany at some point in the past. There is a suppressed ball fluted pendant and gold bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The minute repeating slide is between the five and seven positions on the edge of the case.Dial: White enamel dial with roman hours, closed bar minute ring, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6, Gilt steel continental style "Spade" hands. The dial is unsigned.Movement: Cannot be sure of the size but would be between a 19 lignes and 21 lignes size, minute repeating movement, gilt finger bridge and half plate movement, 15-23 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, helical balance spring with triangular shaped index regulator marked in French for faster and slower, centrifugal force governor, two hammers repeat on gongs activated by a slide in the band.Condition: A handsome 14k solid gold case in excellent condition. Dial is clean without any hairlines. The movement is in good running condition.Auction Value$3000 $3500Insurance Value$6500Extra notesLE PHARE WATCH COMPANYLe Phare was a watch company founded by Charles BarbezarBaillot (1847-1938) and Henry Guye (1838 1877) which came to prominence in 1880 (After Henry's death) with a Gold Medal in Groningen, Germany and a First Class medal in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland in 1881. Their main offices were located in Le Locle and La Chaux de Fonds. They won a Grand Diploma at Amsterdam in 1883. At about this time the firm name changed to 'C. BarbezatBaillot'. In 1888 the name changed again to 'Le Phare' (The Beacon or the Light House in French), which also was one of its trademarks. During the 1890's Baillot was granted a patent for a device to quiet the gearing on repeater watches. This mechanism is called a 'centrifugal style governor' (It is seen clearly in your photo of the movmeent sitting just to the right of the microregulator which controls the speed of the watch). By 1896 Le Phare had won 16 Observatory Trials for good timekeeping. Baillot used interchangeable parts for his movements, and was able to accomplish this with precision tooling. They won a gold medal in Geneva in 1896. This company used the trademark 'Tempora' within a banner with a perpendicular arrow, a crescent moon and five stars on their cases as early as 1883, but actually registered the name 'Tempora' in 1900 as a brand name. BarbizatBaillot was asked to serve as a juror at the Brussels Universal Exhibition in 1897 and again at Liege in 1905. (This would pretty much narrow the years of manufacture of your watch to somewhere in that time period.) This company continued to win awards for precision movements through 1915 when they were taken over by the Zenith Watch Company. The name Le Phare was used until the start of World War ll.
