Sure, Analog:Shift is a business built around the love of watches — mostly mechanical watches. But, in essence, it’s our love for timepieces and timekeeping in general that are the common themes throughout the items we procure. And that includes the love of clocks in general: pocket watches, travel clocks, and more. 

After all, in the couple hundred years before the First World War, personal timekeeping was all about the pocket watch, and before that, it was larger clocks that were front and center, horologically. We still believe a good clock — such as a classic travel model from the 1920s or 1930s — has a place in the watch lover’s collection.

But what we have here is special: Dating to circa the 1990ss, it’s no ordinary pocket watch, but a minute repeater that will audibly chime the time upon activation. And it’s no ordinary minute repeater, but a montre école, or a “school watch” — a timepiece assembled by a student at watchmaking school in order to prove his or her skill. Such watches are often incredibly finished and entirely hand-crafted.

This particular montre école is housed in a 51mm 14K yellow gold ‘hunter’ case with an ‘onion’ crown, an acrylic crystal, a minute repeater slide from 2 through 4 o’clock, and a pusher for time setting. It featured a white enamel dial with painted black ‘Roman’ indices, an outer ‘railroad’ minute track, a subsidiary seconds display above 6 o’clock, and a blued steel ‘Breguet’ handset.

Powered by a hand-wound movement and featuring a beautiful, Art Deco-style engraving on the caseback, this superbly interesting timepiece is perfect for someone who appreciates horology in all its forms — including the high level of craftsmanship and savoir faire that goes into making a watch of this caliber.