Chronometro Gondolo Open Face Pocket Watch in Yellow Gold

In fact…

The Chronometro Gondolo pocket watches displayed the hours, minutes and seconds and sometimes featured 24-hour dials, or chronograph functions. Over time, they were made in nine different sizes (expressed in 10 to 22 lignes) and, at first, were at their most remarkable owing to their simplicity and lack of pretention.

Of all the technical features required for a movement to officially be a ‘Chronometro Gondolo’, it was the gear-train of 9-carat gold that was the most distinctive. Second to this was the requirement to have an ‘ébauche’ (movement-blank), which was based on a drawing by Jean-Adrien Philippe (1815-1894) patended in the United States on 13 January, 1891.