On the bridge of the repeater main spring is engraved 'Grand Prix, Paris 1900'. The movement of this watch was presented at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900, obtaining a 'Grand Prix'. It is a high-precision movement of great quality. We can consider this piece as one of the oldest minute repeaters ever made for a wristwatch, the second, in fact, after Omega's 1892 minute repeater. The case and dial of the watch date from between 1910 and 1920, probably made on special order for a good client. Paul Ditisheim (1868-1945) was born on October 28th, 1868, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and died in Geneva, on February 7th, 1945. After early training in Switzerland, he studied in Berlin and Paris, arriving in 1891 in England, where he worked as a technician at the Rotherham factory in Coventry. He started his own manufacture at Chaux-de-Fonds in 1892, specializing in very high-precision watches and in complicated watches. Success in both spheres followed rapidly, and he won many honors for adjusted watches, especially at Neuchâtel and Kew Observatories. He collaborated with Dr. Ch. E. Guillaume in the use of both the Guillaume 'integral' balance and the elinvar-type of auto-compensating balance spring. He also contributed many papers to scientific and horological journals, and was associated with Dr. Paul Woog, an oil chemist, in the development of Chronax oils. It is unlikely that Paul Ditisheim had very much to do with the actual construction of this watch, other than to order its production from specialist suppliers. He probably was responsible for the springing and adjusting, at which he was a noted specialist. The present lot was previously sold by Antiquorum Geneva in November 19, 2000, lot 4.