Eight-Day, Visible Escapement and Engraved Barrel, c.1910-1920
This Louisine-signed pocket watch runs on the Hebdomas movement, the 8-day design patented by Irénée Aubry in Switzerland in 1888, made by Graizely and from 1913 by Schild & Co. of La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of the most common eight-day pocket watch designs of its day. Rather than winding it every day, one wind carries it through the week.
The movement shows itself on both sides. Under the hinged case back the barrel itself is visible and engraved, and it visibly rotates as you wind. The barrel carries four exhibition medallions and the names Geneve 1896, Paris 1900, Chicago 1892, Milan 1906 and Bruxelles 1910, the last of which places the movement after 1910. On the dial side, a cut-out reveals the balance wheel and escapement in motion.
The case is a substantial 51.5mm, open-face, in gunmetal, with honest wear at the high points (bow, crown, edges) rather than any dents or damage. The dial is gilt guilloche with individually set Arabic numeral roundels and multilingual markings: 8 Jours, 8 Tage, 8 Days, 8 Dias and 8 Giorni. Hands are set with a small pusher rather than a pull-out crown, a detail specific to Hebdomas watches made before 1920 and a useful marker of this piece's age.
Serial number 2436 is stamped inside the case back. The watch winds and runs well, the crystal is clean with no cracks or chips, and there's no rattling or looseness anywhere.
A genuinely different kind of pocket watch: an 8-day power reserve, a visible rotating barrel, and a visible escapement, all in one case.
