Lot 449

International Watch Co., New York

Romney

A collection of 4 IWC pocket watches with legendary calibre Jones
An extremely rare, heavy hunting case pocket watch - early IWC - calibre Jones, pattern B for the North American market

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First-class pocket watch movements of consistent quality for the US market, made in Switzerland with a high level of industrialisation: it was with this visionary idea in mind that Florentine Ariosto Jones founded the International Watch Company in 1868. The first Jones calibres were produced around 1870. They were based on a platform structure and assigned to a specific "pattern", the highest quality level represented by "Pattern H". Unlike conventional Swiss movements of the time, they were not fitted with finger bridges, but with three-quarter plates. This type of construction, widely adopted in the USA, gave them greater stability and simplified the production of small parts. Other notable features included the wolf’s tooth winding on the cogs and the elaborate finishing on the plates and bridges. The oscillations of the balance in all these calibres were regulated using an elongated index, also known later as the “F. A. Jones arrow”.
Source: www.iwc.com