223 - Edouard Seitz - Le Locle Watchmaking School

Edouard Seitz - Le Locle Watchmaking School (*) An exquisite, decorative silver enamel school watch from the Le Locle watchmaking school—Montre École—with mother-of-pearl carvings Movm. No. 888, Cal. LeCoultre 20RVS, Case No. 1916, Dimensions 53 mm, circa 1916, Weight 116 g, Origin: Switzerland Case: Silver, enamel, mother-of-pearl. Dial: Enamel. Movement: Precision bridge movement, lever escapement, gold-screw-compensated balance. This incredibly beautiful, elaborately designed school clock is guilloché on both sides and enameled in translucent sky blue, framed by a border of rose tendrils in translucent dove-gray enamel. At the center of the front cover is an oval mother-of-pearl medallion featuring a carved bas-relief of a child folding their hands; on the back is a central round medallion with a carved monogram, also in mother-of-pearl. Édouard Seitz worked in Le Locle and was employed by Ulysse Nardin around 1940. A particularly good contemporary reference can be found in *La Fédération Horlogère Suisse* from 1941, which contains the results of the chronometer tests conducted in 1940 at the Neuchâtel Observatory. There he is listed as “M. Ed. Seitz, Le Locle.” He won the series prize for regulating the six best chronometers in the categories of marine and pocket chronometers, 1st class. Remarkably, these six chronometers were from Ulysse Nardin, Le Locle. Seitz also received an award for the best temperature compensation of a marine chronometer. The Ulysse Nardin chronometer in question bore the number 28484. Furthermore, he received a special prize for being the first to win the series prize for adjusting and timing watchmakers. Case: very good. Dial: very good. Movement: very good, in working order, cleaning recommended.