368 - Le Phare - Tir Cantonale du Centenaire

Le Phare - Tir Cantonale du Centenaire (*) A highly decorative quarter repeating pocket watch for shooting contests "Tir Cantonal du Centenaire Genève 1814-1914" Case No. 30417, Dimensions 54 mm, circa 1914, Weight 99 g, Origin Schweiz Case: Niello silver. Dial: Enamel. Movm.: 1/2 plate movement, screw compensation balance. Particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in Switzerland and Germany, intricately engraved pocket watches – often from well-known manufacturers such as IWC or Zenith – were awarded to successful marksmen as prizes or tokens of honour at major traditional shooting festivals. These watches usually bore special inscriptions, dedications or reliefs relating to the respective Swiss or regional shooting festival. A niello silver version of the Geneva Canton coat of arms with the eagle, the key and the motto "Post tenebras xux" (light after darkness) decorates the back of this pocket watch. A simplified version of the seal is sometimes used as "Geneva seal" on watch movements of particularly high quality. Le Phare watches were produced in Le Locle by the Swiss watchmaker and inventor Charles-Ami Barbezat-Baillot. The company was originally founded in 1867 by Henry Guye and Charles-Ami Barbezat-Baillot as the workshop Guye & Barbezat. Barbezat-Baillot later became the sole proprietor and registered the brand name Le Phare, French for "the lighthouse". The manufacture became renowned for its high-quality pocket watches, particularly repeating watches and complicated movements. Case: very good. Dial: very good. Movm.: very good, capable of running, cleaning recommended.