Schwob & Frères Mystery Pocket Watch

Inventory Number: PW2303021LC

Made in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, circa 1890, signed Schwob & Frères. 54mm, silver case, case No. 4255, eccentric dial with silver painted radial Roman numerals and outer minute track, engine-turned dial plates with a planished finish. Silver spade hands.

Gilt brass, crescent-shaped movement, 8 jewels, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, index regulator. Dial plate signed.

On loan from the private collection of Mr. Yeung Sau Wong.

What is Mystery Pocket Watch?

Mystery Pocket Watch was built on the principle invented by Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin for clocks, this watch appears to work without any mechanical movement. It is, in fact, driven by the crescent-shaped movement concealed above the dial in the border, the hands revolving along with the glass plate set beneath the dial. Patented by Armand Schwob & Frères in Paris on 24 January 1889, such watches were very popular towards the end of the 19th century.

About Watchmaker

Armand Schwob & Frères (A.S. & F.) was founded in Paris by Armand and Abraham Schwob brothers, who first used this mysterious time indication on pocket watches from 1888 to 1892 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, using the patent of the French watchmaker Hugues Rime.  Armand Schwob et Frère was recorded as having an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds. in 1892, Armand Schwob et Frère declared bankruptcy. According to the numbered statistics of their watches, only a few thousand mystery watches were produced, not more than 3,000 at most. The movement of this watch uses the movement parts of a ladies' pocket watch (pendant watch), including the cylinder escapement, barrel, and winding gear.