This is an excellent example of a watch put together by one of America's most skilled jewelers, using the best European movements and best American cases.Tiffany & Company, New YorkJewelers, goldsmiths, watchcase and watch movement manufacturer.In 1837, a 25-year old named Lewis Tiffany, founded Tiffany & Co. That same year, Queen Victoria ascended the British throne, thus beginning a period of history characterized by a strict respect of tradition and customs, good taste, and wealth. The Victorian Age, as it came to be known, was not limited to Europe. In America, the middle and upper classes continued to follow many of the traditions and trends of their European counterparts, however they proved to be receptive to a more definitive syle that Tiffany was about to create.Tiffany was the first to employ the purity standard of 925/1000 for silver and, thanks to the efforts of Charles Lewis Tiffany, this came to be defined by the American Congress as the norm for American solid silver. Tiffany's first design director was Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder. Considered by many to be the American pioneer of the "Art Nouveau" style of design, his taste and talent for coloring can best be seen in his multi-colored glass window creations. Tiffany & Co.'s goldsmithworkshop became the first American school of design, with nature being a major source of inspiration for the new Tiffany collections of silver and jewelry, produced under the care of Director John C. Moore.Since its creation in 1837, Tiffany has been a symbol of refinement, especially in elegant jewelry design. With more than 100 retailers in 16 different countries, Tiffany has made watchcases for prestigious watch firms, including Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron & Constantin, Touchon, Agassiz, Longines, and many others. Between 1879 and 1910, Tiffany produced close to 800 fine regulators, some with remontoire and others with Lindauer's striking mechanism (US pat 267,092 of Nov 7,1882). Stamped "Tiffany makers", these are considered to be some of the best American-made regulators. Most of the cases were produced by the Malvern Furniture Company, whose records have survived making it possible to uncover detailed information about each of the regulators produced by Tiffany over a roughly thirty-year span.Tiffany took part in numerous exhibitions, including the 1893 Chicago exhibit of "watches, watch-cases, chronographs, globe clocks, and astronomical clocks". There remains a great deal of mystery surrounding Tiffany's watch production, as indicated in the Chicago exhibition catalogue. Undoubtedly, most of their watches were of high quality and were furthermore purchased from outside sources, such as Patek Philippe, Agassiz, Longines, Koehn, Ekegren, and others. Most were signed Tiffany & Co., NeYork, however there are also watches signed Tiffany & Co., Geneva. The latter are very distinct, with nickel 3/4-plate movements, a very high quality finish, and often fitted with complicated movements. Tiffany employed straight-line counterpoised equidistant lever escapements. Some of their watches employed lever-set mechanisms, which were patented in 1873 by Florentine Ariosto Jones, founder of International Watch Company. The numbers found on these watches range between 1,000 and 15,000. Mosare 19 or 20''' (45 mm) watches, and some ladies sizes are also known.Most of the information found in recent articles about Tiffany's Geneva enterprise originates from a 1878 story featured in the British Horological Journal, which claimed that the old Tiffany factory was taken over by Patek Philippe. Three months later Patek Philippe responded that the report was untrue; that they had never worked in the building of Tiffany and Co.; and furthermore that most of Tiffany's machinery had been returned to America. In light of this response, it would seem logical thaTiffany's factory ceased operating before 1878. However, Tiffany's Geneva watch No. 8415 is fitted with a helical balance spring made of palladium, first used by Charles A. Paillard in 1885 and patented a year later. Thus, we can safely conclude that even if the Tiffany's plant was closed, Tiffany's operation in Geneva continued. We have one more factor supporting this hypothesis. The relationship between Patek Philippe and Tiffany is well known. It was established in 1849 and has continued evesince. It is interesting to note that the Tiffany, Geneva movements are known to be employed on occasion in Patek Philippe watches, at least one with Jones lever-set patent (No. 77085), finished in 1888, probably just after expiration of the Jones' patent rights. Thanks to the kindness of the Patek Philippe museum curator, Monsieur Arnaud Tellier, we learned that the company bought the ebauche from "T.M.", most likely meaning Tiffany Makers. This strongly suggests that Tiffany was still in busiess in Geneva in 1888. As to the actual establishment date of the company, there are three things of which we are certain:1. Between 1865 and 1880 Tiffany's orders for Patek Philippe watches seem to have stopped, suggesting the possibility of an independent source.2. The majority of Tiffany's Geneva movements employed Francois Wilmot's micrometric cam regulator, which was patented on July 16, 1872. Interestingly, in his patent application, Wilmot illustrates his invention using a movement layout very similar to the one found in Tiffany's watches, including three plate screws that are unusually close together.3. In the trademark application, in the line "First use in commerce", Tiffany assigned the year 1868.From the above information, it appears that Tiffany operated in Geneva from about 1870 to 1890. In 1889, Jeweler Circular Keystone magazine reported that the Non-Magnetic Watch Co. occupied the old Tiffany plant. Tiffany Geneva watches are not only of very high quality, but also often employ complications such as minute repeating, split-seconds chronograph (No. 15025), perpetual calendar with retrograde date (No. 10212), perpetual calendar with phases of the moon (No. 10717), simple minute repeaers (No. 10004, 11581), or helical palladium balance springs (No. 8415).