7-6-25 Sunday, Nokomis: Coins, Jewelry, Collectibles, Gold & Silver - 7 pm Active (#27287979)

A gorgeous late 19th century French Maison B. Haas Jeune pocket watch with Paul-Emile Jaccottet movement, in gleaming 18K gold.  There is a French horsehead hallmark (for 18K) in two places, also tested.  The face is decorated with dainty hand painting, and the back has a lovely spray of engraved florals highlighted with colored enamel.  Inside it reads: Maison B. Haas Jne., Brevetee, Geneve Besancon, Paris.  The movement is marked: P.E. Jaccottet, Travers.

Weight of the entire watch: 26 grams

Footnotes (copied information):

The house founded in Geneva in 1848 by the brothers Léopold Haas (1827-1915) and Benjamin Haas (1828-1925), later becoming “Ancienne Maison B. Haas Jeune”, then “Haas Neveux & Co.”, is one of the oldest Swiss watch manufacturers. The Haas signature has always been one of the most sought after, thanks to the impeccable standards of the company. Haas gained a reputation as a manufacturer of fine chronometers, chronographs, and highly complicated watches. Among their most notable creations was the “remontoir perpétuel à décrochement” (1867 and 1873), a perpetual calendar (1872) and later the first ultra-thin watch movement (circa 1896). 

Paul-Emile Jaccottet established a manufacturing business in Travers in Canton Neuchâtel in 1842 and it quickly became one of the premier ebauche manufacturers in Switzerland.  Jaccottet's success lead to broader watchmaking in the Val-de-Travers.  Ebauches from Jaccottet were admired for both their technical characteristics and superior level of finish from the factory. Although he charged more than his competitors (chiefly Fontainemelon but also Japy in France), Jaccottet's ebauches were in such demand that he was relatively insulated from the fierce price-based competition that buffeted these companies in the 1860s. Jaccottet movements were appreciated not only by Swiss manufacturers but also in France, where quality was prized over volume. In addition to various varieties of key and crown winding movements, Jaccottet also manufactured blanks for marine chronometers, assortments for anchor escapements, compensated balances, and finished wheels.