221 - Henry Moser & Cie. - Louis Elysée Piguet

Henry Moser & Cie. - Louis Elysée Piguet A very fine, heavy lever chronometer with a power reserve indicator for the Russian market Movement No. 25280, Case No. 25280, Dimensions 56 mm, circa 1900, Weight 189 g, Origin: Switzerland Case: 18K gold, guilloché pattern, case maker’s punch mark HM&Co. on coat of arms with lilies (Henry Moser & Cie. SA). Dial: Enamel. Movement: Bridge movement (Louis Elysée Piguet), lever escapement, gold screw-compensated balance, punch mark HM&Co. on a coat of arms with lilies (Henry Moser & Cie. SA). Coming from a family whose watchmaking roots dated back to the early 18th century, Henry Moser succeeded in reestablishing the family name as the legendary “Russian Swiss” brand. Johann Heinrich Moser, the founder of H. Moser & Cie, was born in 1805 and learned his craft from his father; to further his skills, he went to work in Le Locle, Switzerland, in 1824. He returned to his hometown of Schaffhausen in 1826 with the intention of starting his own business, but his request was rejected by the municipal council, and the position of town watchmaker was given to someone else. Driven by a vision, Heinrich decided to take his business to Tsarist Russia, which at the time offered an excellent workforce and a promising market for watches. After holding several positions as a watchmaker, Heinrich founded the company Henry Moser & Cie in St. Petersburg in 1828—strategically changing his name to sound English. He opened a watch factory in Le Locle in 1829, also under the name Henry Moser & Cie. His first branch in Moscow opened in 1831, and Henry Moser & Cie became a supplier to the Tsar and the Russian Army. Moser even expanded his sales to Japan, China, Persia, and Turkestan, as well as Siberia and Kamchatka. By 1845, the Moser companies in Russia employed around fifty people. Case: very good. Dial: very good. Movement: very good, capable of running; cleaning recommended.