anouther repeater question

[vandd]

i believe this not to be american, but does anyone have a clue what is it? i will be posting this twice so both sites will see it. now back to the info, i bought this from a guy in NJ he said the balance wheel will move freely but did not know if it works. well i bought a key since i lost my universal set and wound it up and it went. but it has to be upside down to run. so i put tape acrose the 12-6 and 9-4 marks on the dial.(note the dial has no inside.) now when i inspect it i only see two words and i am bad at reading cursive but i believe they are france Retardo. this movement meausres 2 inches in diamiter. any help would help me wonder what was the past of this sweet watch.
thanks much all
vandd4621

[Jon Hanson]

French

[vandd]

i was thinking french but i am barly making out the cursive. but then why so big? and is it in its ariganal case... so far its been running strong for the last 15 min area