Horological Meandering

 Thanks for posting these pictures, you really have quite a SPECTACULAR incarnation of a Louis Audemars!

First off, the case, it is of course all hand made by Meylan Freres/Louis Audemars. They were the top case makers for a long while.

The front and back dust covers are engine turned and look to be very crisp. A very nice detail! From the inscription it appears that parts of the case were 'prepared' during the late 1860s. 

 From the marks on the inside of the case that I see, I would date the case being finished to the mid 1870s when we start to see these Louis Audemars markings on all the cases.

 Also, the type of pendant on it (i.e. where the crown connects to the case), is a style that is reflective of the UK or US markets and tends to appear in most Louis Audemars pocket watches closer to the 1875-1880s. The bow itself looks like a Jurgensen watch, which sold almost exclusively to the USA, and worked in close cooperation with Meylan Frere's case manufacturers. 

Now for the details of the movement, from the winding ratchet wheel shape I would keep the movement as being 'finished' more or less (or at least the ebauche nearly completed by 1870 as I first mentioned. The next clue, pushing it back to the 1875 dates is the hairspring stud block on the balance bridge. It is a 'bean shaped' cap, with three 'holes' two for screws driven from the underside, and the middle hole is for the hairspring stud, which is fastened in place by a screw on the side. This type of construction is also from 1870-1878 or so, later up until 1883 when the firm closed, they used a different and very angular hairspring block. The way the center wheel is finished with the 'square cap' is also a very post 1875 stylistic trait.

It goes without saying that this is a 20 jeweled watch, the gear train is solid gold, and you're NOT going to find anything better than this quality at this time. Patek and Vacheorn, etc. have the 'prestige' issue, but when you take this pocket watch apart and do a side by side comparison of each component, you'll see immediately the huge difference in quality. 

Lastly, the movement design is a typical design especially for watches meant to be exported to the USA. And in relation to all the dates I'm giving you, it was normal for Louis Audemars (and most companies with very low output numbers such as this company) to have various parts produced at different stages and then finished when an order was ready, so I'm giving you the 'long story' of how the watch came to be.

 So, this all goes to say that you have a really spectacular watch on your hands! Don't scrap it, nor give it away !!!

Hope this helps and do feel free to PM me if you would like any more details,

Congrats on having this watch and thanks for sharing!

S

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