Movado Minute Repeating Chronograph Pocket Watch

Inventory number: PW1905002

Made by Movado in Switzerland circa 1920. 60mm, 18K gold hunter case. Repoussé case decorated with the horse, goat, dog, and diamond-set moon above the scene.

Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, minute repeater, and chronograph functions.

Watchmaking Glossary

Thomas Mudge has traditionally been credited with the invention of this complication, circa 1750.

But we know now that the first mechanisms to precisely indicate the number of minutes elapsed appeared in the early years of the 18th century (1700-1710), for the most part in southern Germany.  During the entire 18th century, watchmakers in Friedberg (a city in Germany) produced this kind of mechanism and exported to London, in particular.

The minute repeater requires three different sounds to distinguish hours, quarters, and minutes. Often the hours are signaled by a low tone, the quarters are signaled by a sequence of two tones ("ding-dong"), and the minutes by a high tone.

For example, if the time is 2:49 then the minute repeater will sound 2 low tones representing 2 hours, 3 sequence tones representing 45 minutes, and 4 high tones representing 4 minutes: "dong, dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding, ding, ding, ding".

Manufacturer History

Movado was founded as LAI Ditescheim & Freres SA in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, by Léopold Achille Isidore Ditesheim. In 1905, the company changed its name to Movado, which means "always in motion" in Esperanto. It has earned over 100 patents and 200 international awards for artistry and innovation. Our collection PW1809002 is one of its classic models and made for Cartier, simply by moving the two halves of the Ermeto case apart and back together and you’ve wound your watch. Now, its best-known watch is Museum Watch designed in 1947.