Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Monaco, Dec 12, 2025

LOT 48

CARTIER, SWITZERLAND, 8-DAY GOING PRE-ART-DECO CARRIAGE-CLOCK, QUARTER-REPEATER, SILVER AND ENAMEL

EUR 15,000 - 25,000

CHF 14,000 - 23,300 / HKD 136,000 - 226,000 / USD 17,400 - 29,000 / JPY 2,720,000 - 4,530,000

A very fine and very rare, silver, enamel and agate, 8-day going, key-winding, vertical rectangular-shaped, pre-art deco carriage-clock, with quarter-repeater by two hammers on two steel gongs (activated by depressing the cabochon sapphire push-piece on the top). silver cabinet with blue enamel (translucent enamel over guilloché engine-turning) décor; the side panels each with a rose-cut diamond in their centres; the top panel decorated en suite. white enamel dial with suspended breguet numerals; rose-cut diamond-set “fantasy arrow” silver hands. enamel bezel engraved "l'amitie vous l'offre". movement, rectangular, gilded-brass, two going barrels, platform with lateral lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel flat hairspring, polished steel index-regulator; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial. with original cartier leather box with the key


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Brand Cartier, Switzerland

Model 8-DAY GOING PRE-ART-DECO CARRIAGE-CLOCK, QUARTER-REPEATER, SILVER AND ENAMEL

Year 1910

Case No. 16770

Length 50

Height 68

Width 104

Signature Dial

Accessories key and original Cartier leather box

Notes

Originally from the Desmarais Collection, subsequently passed down to the current owner.

Descended from a bold vision conceived in the 19th century, Henri (1825–1897) and Charles (1824–1878) Boutheroüe-Desmaraisestablished an industrial dynasty in 1861 with their company, Desmarais Frères, a trailblazer in petroleum refining and distribution. By 1878, they had constructed two refineries: one in Graville, near Le Havre, and another in Blaye, in the Gironde estuary. The company swiftly gained renown for its innovative products, such as the ultra-refined lamp oil Astraline and the premium oil Oriflamme, alongside a diverse portfolio that included Notre-Dame-de-l’Océan soaps and edible oils derived from peanuts and rapeseed. Their ingenuity and determination elevated the company to a position of prominence as one of France’s leading oil producers of the era, as well as a key petroleum distributor during the interwar years. In 1924, Desmarais Frères became a shareholder in the Compagnie Française des Pétroles (CFP), later known as Total, forging a strategic alliance. By the 1950s, the company had been progressively integrated into the CFP, which ultimately absorbed all operations of Desmarais Frères.
Paule Boutheroüe-Desmarais (1901, Paris – 1992, Louveciennes), Henri’s granddaughter, exemplified the enduring spirit of this legacy. In 1924, she married Georges Combe Saint-Macary (1897–1977), with whom she had two children before taking the rare step for her time of divorcing in the late 1930s. A woman of elegance and resolve, Paule made history in 1937 when she preserved the island of Port-Cros by purchasing it at auction, ensuring its natural beauty would be safeguarded. According to family tradition, this exquisite Cartier clock was originally gifted to Paule and was subsequently passed down through the generations—first to her daughter, Christiane Combe Saint-Macary, who married Count Pierre Tallien de Cabarrus (1924–2006), and then to her grandson, François, the consignor of this remarkable heirloom.