Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Apr 12, 1997

LOT 593

Breguet & Fil, Swiss, circa 1815. Very fine and rare 18K gold, quarter repeating, half skeletonized, wandering time watch.

CHF 50,000 - 60,000

Sold: CHF 63,250

C. Double body, Directoire with reeded band and fixed bezel, the back engine-turned in a sunburst pattern. D. Gold, chased and engraved with a scene depicting Kronos in a barge, driven by Cupid, semicircular aperture on the upper part, the time is pointed by the hours, revolving in front of an enamel minute sector. M. fine gilt brass and blued steel, full plate, the blued steel back plate partly skeletonized to disclose part of the gold train of wheels, the going barrel with a gilt brass cover, pierced and engraved with scrolls, and the cylinder escapement with plain gold three-arm balance, polished steel bridge with ruby end-stone, flat balance spring. Repeating by depressing the pendant, with visible polished steel repeating work and blued steel gongs, partly gilt, in form of serpents. Signed on the dial. In very good condition.


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Notes

On wandering hour watches, the time is shown by a digital jumping hour in an aperture, revolving within a semi-circular sector and pointing to the minutes engraved on the border. Two similar watches were sold by Antiquorum in Geneva, first on 18 October, 1992, lot 238, then on 21 April, 1996, lot 169. Such watches were invented towards the end of the 17th century. They were initially made as presentation watches in England and Germany, with the portrait or the coat-of-arms of the King, painted or engraved on the dial, below the semi-circular aperture. (See The Art of British I-Iorolorp, October 1995, pp. 64-65.) A few other of top quality with very line skeleton quarter repeating movements, where also produced in Geneva circa 1800, the dial plate generally engraved below the aperture with an allegorical scene. The idea was taken up during the Art-Deco period, first by Cartier for precious small table clocks, made for the different courts of Europe as presentation pieces, the dial decorated with a portrait of the Kink below the aperture, then iii Switzerland by Robert Cart, who produced theta in an Art-Deco design, the cligital jumping hour aperture showing the time on a fixed outer minute chapter ring. The patent was then bought by Breguet who produced them both as pocket and wristwatches.