Small Barraud
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Front, Dial, Back, Case mark, Cuvette, Movement This watch, 3/1906, is the Grade C "Half Chronometer." The difference in the Barraud & Lunds grades is primarily in the size of the watch. The Grade C is a 14 0/2 size with keyless fuzee work and chronometer balance. This example does not have the up down dial that was available on this model. It is likely that the absence of the up/down and the engraved barrel cover were characteristics that reduced the price a bit without really affecting the quality. It has the same 17 jewel configuration that essentially all the half chronometers carry. The serial number 3/1906 places this watch fairly early in the 3rd series and the date letter lower case u is for 1875.
The picture to the right is from an example that does have an up/down indicator, which only requires the change in the dial and the wheel shown above the keyless work. A few years later Barraud & Lunds stopped offering the model without the up/down. Case maker HCD: Henry Charles Dewar, 26 Myddleton Street Clerkenwell, London |
This watch differs from the
example in the ca 1895 Barraud & Lunds catalog in having the more subtle clutch
type keyless works rather than the button activated version. In the clutch
keyless work there is a small take up amount that the crown must be turned
before it engages the winding. The intermediate winding wheel is carried on an
arm that is pivoted around the crown wheel. When the crown is turned the
intermediate wheel swings around to engage the winding, overcoming the force of
a small return spring. When the crown is released, the intermediate wheel springs back to the
running position with the winding disengaged.