SWISS, AN EXTREMELY RARE ULTRA-THIN QUARTER REPEATING BAGNOLET CALIBER YELLOW GOLD OPENFACE POCKET WATCH

The so-called bagnolet or ‘renverse’ caliber is a special caliber for extra-flat watches. It was created by the Swiss watchmaker Philippe Samuel Meylan around 1840. Meylan's calibers had an interesting feature - the dial for reading the time was placed on the same side of the movement as the bridges, this arrangement made it possible to create an extremely thin watch. The barrel-arbour and the time-setting arbour are pierced to allow for a square male key.

The present watch is extremely rare in being quarter repeating, indeed, it appears to be the only example of a quarter repeating bagnolet caliber watch known publicly.