Lot 322

Louis Brandt & Fils

A rare minute repeating hunting case pocket watch with chronograph, calendar and moon phase

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This is an impressive hunting case pocket watch with minute repeater, chronograph and calendar in a smooth pink gold case. The white enamel dial features Arabic numerals, a hand date, auxiliary seconds with integrated moon phase and two windows for weekday and month display in German. A pusher at "2" starts, stops and resets the chronograph; a pusher at "6" releases the minute repeater, where the two hammers strike on two different gongs.

In 1848 Louis Brandt (1825-1879), only 23 years old, opened a factory for the production of pocket watches in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The models produced there first bore his own name, ie "Louis Brandt" on the dial. After the elder son Louis Paul entered 1877 the business, the company was called Louis Brandt & Fils. Louis Brandt died on July 5, 1879.
The two sons Louis Paul and Cesar relocated the company in the same year to Biel, where it has its headquarters also today. From 1891 it was called Louis Brandt & Frère and at about turn of the century it adopted the later famous name Omega.