This lock has been made by the famous Swiss bank safe manufacturer Bauer A.G. in Zürich, Switzerland around 1923. We have a very limited number of these locks. They ornated the most ancient and precious safe deposit boxes in the vault. When polished, the brass alphabetical dials on the brass circle are eye catching - not a lock that you forget. Ladies are especially fond of its shiny and mysterious look.

This lock is unique on several counts. First its 4 alphabetic brass dials give it its distinctive, elegant look. Second, the mechanism is extremely original, with two locks sharing only one keyhole.

How the lock works
There are 3 locks on this door - two levers locks and one 4-letters combination alphabetical lock with 234,256 different combinations. The bank key moves a lever that releases one of the three devices blocking the lock. It also moves a lever in the keyhole so that the client key can be inserted.

The tumbler-lever lock has 7 brass levers and 2 different bolt levers, for a total of 9 levers. The Bank key moves the 3 top levers and the top bolt lever to unblock the first part of the lock and enable the client to insert his key. The client key moves the 4 bottom levers and the bottom bolt lever (connected to the door bolt and the combination lock). Each dial of the alphabetical combination lock need to be on the proper letter for the client to be able to turn his key of 90° and put it in a vertical position. The alphabetical dials have only 22 letters (no I, Q, X and Y) probably for a reason of space. Once the client key is vertical and the bolt is partially retracted, each of the dial need to be scrambled again for the client key to turn fully to the right and open the lock.

How to open the lock
To open, the banker first turns the bank key half turn clockwise, then takes it out and leaves the room. The client enters his key in the same keyhole and turns each of the 4 alphabetic dials to select his personal secret code. He turns the key clockwise 1/4 turn, then scrambles his secret combination and turns the key 1/4 turn more to open the door.

The scrambling of the combination is necessary before the door is opened to ensure that nobody could see the client's secret combination while he was busy inspecting the contents of his safe deposit box.

This lock was mounted on doors of various sized, from small 9x30 cm doors to large 120x60 cm double doors. We have a few beautiful larger doors in working condition for sale - contact us.

 
The lock was operated with a client key, of which there was one or two copies for each lock, and a banker key.