Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Nov 12, 2006

LOT 54

?Thin, with 9 Complications? Audemars Piguet, No. 13929, case No. 12590. Made for E. Gübelin, Lucerne, circa 1912. Very fine and extremely rare, thin and elegant, Art Deco, astronomic, minute-repeating, 18K yellow gold and enamel keyless dress watch with perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph, progressive 60-minute register, moon phases and lunar calendar.

CHF 120,000 - 150,000

EUR 75,000 - 95,000 / USD 95,000 - 120,000

Sold: CHF 141,000

C. Three-body, ?bassine et filet?, brushed, the bezels, pendant and bow decorated with a black champlevé enamel Greek-key pattern, start/stop button in the crown, split-seconds button in the band at 11 o?clock. D. Brushed silver with upright Arabic numerals, outer minute/seconds and fifths of a second divisions, Arabic five minute/seconds numerals, subsidiary dials for the months and four-year cycle concentric with the 60-minute progressive register, date and days of the week, moonphase aperture with seconds and lunar calendar. Blued steel ?Breguet? hands. M. Cal. SMCCRQV, 18???, rhodium-plated, ?fausses côtes? decoration, 35 jewels, wolf?s tooth winding, straightline lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with peripheral gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan-neck micrometer regulator, visible steel chronograph work, repeating on two gongs activated by a slide on the band. Dial, case and movement signed E. Gübelin. Diam. 49 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The complicated watches of Audemars Piguet were highly prized by companies such as Gübelin because their movements were thinner and more suited to use in the dress watches that were so popular in the early 20th Century. An almost identical watch is illustrated in ?Audemars Piguet?, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli, Wehrli, 1993, p. 153. Another, in white gold with the serial number 13927 signed E. Gübelin, Lucerne and Audemars Piguet is illustrated on p.154. Gübelin This company began in 1854 as a family business run by Maurice Breitschmid in Lucerne, Switzerland. He first advertised as a watchmaker, and as business grew, Breitschmid brought on his son-in-law, Jacques-Edouard Gübelin, as a partner. Gübelin eventually took over the company. He introduced jeweled watches and jewelry to the business in 1921 at the opening of their New York branch, after collaborating with the jeweler Edmond Frisch. Gübelin also opened branches in St. Moritz, Zurich, Geneva, Berne, Lugano, and Basel. Gübelin?s sons eventually entered the family business; his eldest son, Dr. Edouard Gübelin, opened a gemmological laboratory and made a name for himself internationally, while his youngest son, Walter, was drawn toward artistic expression and contributed to the company through his creative designs. This successful company has created superior quality clocks and watches for more than a century.