Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...

New York, Jun 18, 2008

LOT 97

Edward Piguet - Platinum Tourbillon Audemars Piguet, Genève, "Edward Piguet - Tourbillon", No. 18, movement No. 458587, case No. D98997, Ref. 25843PT. Sold in August 1999. Very fine and rare, rectangular, skeletonized, platinum wristwatch with visible one-minute tourbillon regulator and a platinum Audemars Piguet deployant buckle. Accompanied by a fitted box and certificate.

USD 70,000 - 110,000

EUR 45,000 - 70,000

C. Two-body, solid, polished and brushed, stepped bezel and lugs, transparent case back with 4 screws, sapphire crystals. D. Transparent with painted Arabic numerals and baton indexes, at 6 aperture for the visible tourbillon regulator under a polished steel bridge, carrying the subsidiary seconds hand. Black baton hands. M. Cal. 2871, skeletonized and hand-engraved, rhodium-plated, 19 jewels, lateral lever escapement with one-minute tourbillon regulator with steel cage and 3 equidistant polished steel arms, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Dim. 27 x 46 mm. Thickness 13 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 01

HANDS Original

Notes

What is a Tourbillon? ATourbillon is a regulating mechanism in which the escapement of a movement is housed within a revolving carriage. When a watch is in vertical position, the force of gravity will speed the balance wheel as it moves in its downward (arc) direction and slow it as it moves upward, creating deviational errors of timekeeping. By placing balance and escapement in a carriage that revolves 360° per minute, these errors become averaged and thus, timekeeping becomes constant and consequently adjustable. Created by Abraham Louis Breguet in 1795 in an effort to attain better precision, the tourbillon is considered a difficult and complex achievement by any watch manufacturer.