This watch is the most complicated Indian market watch to have ever been sold at auction. It has the rare feature of a central progressive minute recording hand. This, along with the chronograph hand, gives the appearance of a being a split seconds chronograph. The design of the present watch recalls the height of the British Raj in India. It depicts a fashionable English couple out riding, along with the oak leaf and riding accessories. It is likely that the jockey?s cap shows the racing colors of the original purchaser. This combination of Swiss manufacture and English taste is peculiar to the Indian Market and was one aspect of the so-called ?Swiss period? which of course includes the watches produced in Switzerland, with cases decorated purely in the Indian manner. The ruling Indian classes on the whole embraced the English gentry and actively participated in traditional English pastimes. The Sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mahbub Ali Khan, to whom this watch was sold, is known for his lavish wardrobe and exquisite taste in clothes and jewelry. On 1st January 1877 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India at a Durbar, or assembly of notables and princes, in Delhi. The Sovereign, who, incidentally never visited her Indian Empire, was represented by the Viceroy Lord Lytton. The Queen sent a telegram, which read; ?We, Victoria, by the grace of God, Empress of India, and through our Viceroy, to all our officers, civil and military, and to all princes, chiefs, and peoples now at Delhi assembled, send our Royal and Imperial greeting, and assure them of the deep interest and earnest affection with which we regard the people of our Indian Empire. We have witnessed with heartfelt satisfaction the reception they have accorded to our beloved son, and have been touched by their loyalty and attachment to our House and Throne. We trust the present occasion may tend to unite in bonds of yet closer affection ourselves and our subjects, that from the highest to the humblest all may feel that under our rule the great principles of liberty, equity and justice are secured to them, and that to promote their happiness, to add to their prosperity, and advance their welfare, are the ever-present aims and objects of our Empire". The Princely States, bound by treaty to the crown, preserved control over their domestic affairs. Control over the directly ruled territories (about three fifths of the total area) was exercised by the Secretary of State for India. The Sovereign being represented by a Governor General or Viceroy, who being assisted by a council ruled India. The administration was staffed by the Indian Civil Service. The Indian Army, with British officers in charge ensured the Raj's security in conjunction with a British Army garrison. The Raj ended in 1947 with the partitioning and subsequent granting of independence to India and Pakistan on 15th August 1947.
Henry Grandjean. Henry Grandjean was one of the first to enter the South American Market. He was also one of the first to establish a marine chronometer manufacturing business in Switzerland as well as being an initiator of the Neuchâtel Observatory. In 1851, at the first Universal Exposition in London, Grandjean received a First Class medal. His list of medals continues until 1868, the year in which the company won an award for its marine chronometers. They also received at least eight additional awards, not including those from the Observatory of Neuchâtel. Henry died in 1879 but the company continued for the next twenty years until 1899, the year in which Rossel & Fils registered their name as successors (it is most likely they who had run the company after Granjean's death). On January 9, 1908 Rossel & Fils transferred the title to Charles-Ferdinand Perret. The 13 complications of this watch: Grande sonnerie Petite sonnerie Minute repeat Strike and silent 8 day going for the time 8 day going for the striking train Day Date Month Chronograph. Minute recorder 2 trains Moon phases