Important Watches, Pocket Watches and...

Noga Hilton Hotel, Nov 13, 2005

LOT 195

?The River God? Breguet & Fils, Geneva, No. 15217. Movement attributable to Decombaz. Made circa 1820. Very fine and rare 18K gold, quarter striking, minute-repeating clock watch with four gongs.

CHF 18,000 - 22,000

EUR 12,000 - 14,000 / USD 14,000 - 17,000

Sold: CHF 23,000

C. Four-body, "Empire" with reeded band, the back chased with a seated figure of a river god below a shining sun and crossed oak and palm fronds. Hinged gilt brass cuvette. D. Gold engine-turned in a rosette pattern with radial Roman numerals on a polished chapter ring. Blued-steel "spade" hands with polished tips. M. Gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, double train with going barrels both on the going and the striking trains, cylinder escapement, plain polished steel three-arm balance, flat balance spring with regulator. Hour and quarter striking train with polished-steel count wheel on the back plate, striking on two square polished-steel gongs with two hammers. Minute repeating on two square polished steel gongs by depressing the pendant with independent work. Apocryphal signature on the dial and the cuvette. Diam. 61 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Decombaz was one of the finest watchmakers working in Geneva at the beginning of the 19th century. He often worked for Breguet, specialized in repeating and complicated watches, and usually used either virgule or cylinder escapements. Minute-repeating watches from this period are very rare, even more so when also fitted with an independent quarter striking train. The polished-steel striking work on the back plate is very similar to that of the bracket clocks made in Switzerland in the Canton of Neuchâtel.