Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces...
Hong Kong, Dec 05, 2021
LOT 177
CHARLES BARBEZAT-BAILLOT – FIX WATCH CO.
Pocket watch, minute-repeater, chronograph, minute counter, perpetual calendar, moon phases, made for the Spanish market; 18K yellow gold
Pocket watch, minute-repeater, chronograph, minute counter, perpetual calendar, moon phases, made for the Spanish market; 18K yellow gold
HKD 154,000 - 204,000
EUR 17,200 - 22,900 / CHF 18,100 - 24,100 / USD 19,700 - 26,200
18K yellow gold, hunting-case, keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, made for the Spanish market, with subsidiary seconds at 9 and nine horological complications:
· Minute-repeater by two hammers on two steel gongs (activated by the rectangular push-piece located on the case-band at 6 o’clock)
· 1/5 second chronograph (activated by the rectangular push-piece located on the case-band at 4 o’clock)
· Instantaneous 30-minute counter (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock)
· Half-instantaneous perpetual calendar
· Date of the month (subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock)
· Day of the week (subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock; indications given in Spanish)
· Month of the year (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock; indications given in Spanish)
· Four-year cycle of leap-years (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock)
· Age and phases of the moon (subsidiary dial, graduated from 0 to 29 ½, and aperture at 9 o’clock)
Case-back and cover polished; cover engraved in taille-douce (fine-cut) with a garland, and, applied, in gold, the cypher “A G”.
White enamel dial with suspended “Breguet” numarals; blued steel “Spade” hands.
Movement 21’’’, gilded brass, going barrel, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel hairspring with terminal curve, polished steel index-regulator; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial, with silent centrifugal force governor to regulate the speed of the repetition mechanism; chronograph work on the top plate.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 2* |
Very good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Brand C. Barbezat-Baillot, Le Locle
Model Cronòmetro Repeticiòn, retailed by El Trust, Madrid
Year Circa 1910
Movement No. 147 086
Case No. 53 201
Diameter 56 mm
Caliber 21’’’, straight-line lever escapement
Weight 134,5 gr. (approx.)
Signature Case
Accessories Copies of the invention patent and advertisements
Notes
Movement based on the Swiss invention patent No. 334, delivered on January 8, 1889, to Charles Barbezat-Baillot, Le Locle, for a “Perfectionnements apportés à la construction des mécanismes de répétition pour montres de poche de toutes dimensions” (Improvements to the construction of the mechanisms of repetition for pocket watches of all sizes); this patent includes in particular the centrifugal force regulator to regulate the speed of the repetition mechanism.
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Charles Barbezat-Baillot, Le Locle
The company “C. Barbezat-Baillot” was founded by Charles Barbezat-Baillot (1847-1938). He was the elder brother of Henri Barbezat-Bôle (1851-1921), the founder of “H. Barbezat-Bôle S.A., Le Locle”.
Charles Barbezat-Baillot is the holder of many invention patents related to watchmaking and registers numerous trademarks: “Trusty”, “Le Phare”, “Dixi”, “Fix Watch Co.”, etc.
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El Trust, Joyero y Relojero Internacional, Madrid
This Madrilenian watchmaking and jewellery (Puerta del Sol, No. 12) is managed in the early 20th century by D. Modesto Largo Alvarez. It then markets exclusively for Spain the watches “Fix Watch Co.”, a registered trademark of the Charles Barbezat-Baillot (1847-1938) company of Le Locle (co-founded in the 1870’s, with Henry Guye (1838 -1877), under the name “Guye & Barbezat”).
This house is then known worldwide for its pieces “Le Phare” (The Lighthouse), fitted with its centrifugal force regulator for repeater (Swiss invention patent No. 334, dated January 8, 1889, for “Perfectionnements apportés à la construction des mécanismes de répétition pour montres de poche de toutes dimensions" (Improvements to the construction of the mechanisms of repetition for pocket watches of all sizes), several times award-winning invention, at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896, the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, etc.).
It’s probably following a commercial contract that the Le Locle company then provides this retailer with the best of its production, including models with minute-repeater, chronograph with recorder and perpetual calendar or triple date.
In the 1920’s, this Spanish retailer (who also opened a store in San Sebastian in the Basque-Country) offers his customers watches by Longines (including pocket watches with minute-repeater on three gongs, known as Carillon or Chime) and by Patek Philippe, manufacture of which it is still depositary in the 1950’s. Meanwhile, with the War of Spain, this retailer emigrated in 1936, in Argentina, in Buenos Aires. The house is then in the hands of C. Pellegrini, Esq. Corrientes.