Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Hong Kong, Oct 27, 2019
LOT 409
ALBERT H. POTTER & CO. KEYLESS-WINDING POCKET WATCH WITH MINUTE-REPEATER; 18K YELLOW GOLD
HKD 110,000 - 120,000
CHF 12,950 - 15,900 / USD 13,000 - 16,000
18K yellow gold, open-face “cut hunter”, keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, with subsidiary seconds at 6, minute-repeater on two steel gongs (activated by the slide at 6 o’clock). Case-back engraved in taille-douce (fine cut) with the cypher “G C M”. Inside the case-back a tintype (or melainotype or ferrotype) portrait a lady. Glazed cuvette (dome).
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3-6* |
Good Slightly oxidized Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand Albert H. Potter & Co, Geneva
Year Circa 1880
Movement No. 322
Calibre 19’’’, lever escapement
Case No. 68 707 / 137
Diameter 51.4 mm
Signature Dial and movement
Notes
A tintype, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, is a photographic technique developed in 1852 by Adolphe-Alexandre Martin (1824-1896) in Paris, professor of physics at Sainte-Barbe College and member of the French Society of Photography from 1855 to 1896.
It’s made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel and used as the support for the photographic emulsion. Tintypes enjoyed their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s, but lesser use of the medium persisted into the early 20th century and it has been revived as a novelty and fine art form in the 21st.