Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jul 10, 2005

LOT 262

?Minute-repeating? Breguet & Fils a Paris. Made in Switzerland and cased for the English market, Chester hallmarks for 1833. Very fine and extremely rare, minute-repeating, 18K multicolored gold pocket watch.

HKD 30,000 - 60,000

EUR 3,200 - 6,500 / USD 4,000 - 8,000

Sold: HKD 46,000

C. Four-body, ?bassine et filets?, the bezels, pendant and bow cast and deeply chased with shells, flowers and scrolls, engine-turnedback. D. Gold, engine-turned, applied gold radial Roman numerals, vari-colored gold foliate decoration. Gold hands.M. 43 mm., frosted gilt, full-plate, fusée with chain, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance, blued steel flat balance-spring, piercedand chased continental type balance cock, repeating on two blued steel gongs activated by depressing the pendant.Movement signed.Diam. 56 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 4 - 14
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 6 - 05

Notes

What is a Minute Repeater? A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the #9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it will count out the hours. Then both hammers will strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes after that quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gings became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.