French: Text on antique silver watch

[Anonymous]

I was studying one of my family's old inheritance, a silver pocket watch made in Paris 1896(the clock is gone, but the shell remains), when it started to intrigue me whats written on it, since no-one could recall why and where my grand-grand-father had got it...

I uploaded the pictures here, it took some time to get good clear shots(The text is on the last pictures):
http://www.lrstudio.eu/silverwatch/

First I tried the 'Google Translate tool' , So I was able to translate some words, though I don't know how accurate, but I didn't get any response to the words written on circles.

Here's what I was able to read out:
medaille d'or
diplome d honneur
15 rubis
chronometre

auxindust agr man etcomm encour
nation agric manuf et comm agad

expos bordea
bordigala

Here's google translation:
Gold Medal
Diploma of Honor
15 rubies
Stopwatch

Auxindust agr man etcomm encour
Agric manuf nation and comm agad

Expos bordea
Bordigala


So I though maybe it is written in Latin or Greek or smth. Also if anyone can tell me something more about this watch, the info is more than welcome.

 

[Cato]

The writing is all in French.

"15 rubis" - "15 jewels" is a general stamp placed on 19th century pocket watches to indicate timing precision. Using too few jewels made the watch inaccurrate over the long term, but "overjeweling" the watch made it less rugged. It was felt that "15 jewels" were the right amount, and most fine watches make a point of stating this (kind of like when we see the word "swiss' on a watch to indicate higher quality).

In the smaller inscription "aux indust agr man etcomm encour", aux is certainly the french preposition "in" followed by a compound noun.

Other than that, I'd suggest taking it to a watchmaker for appraisal.

 

[cinefactus]

It is French rather than Latin

I would guess
acad nation agric manuf et comm is
academie nationale d'agriculture manufacture et communication
National academy of agriculture, factories and communication

Expos bordea I would guess to be
Exposition Bordeaux
Bordeaux exposition

Encour aux indust agr man et comm I would guess as something like
Encouragement aux industries d'agriculture manufacture et communication
Encouragement to the industries of agriculture, manufacture and communication

Bordigala may be the Latin name for Bordeaux

In the middle of the coins it also has L.F DRP which is unfortunately unclear to me.

 

[Anonymous]

ok, tnx. Any idea for what it was given?

 

[cinefactus]

It doesn't say.