Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 16, 2005

LOT 368

?Mystery A? Cartier, Paris, No. 2345. Made circa 1925. Exceptional ?Pendule Mystérieuse Modèle A?, 18K gold, platinum, black onyx, rock crystal and rose diamond-set eight day going Mystery clock. Accompanied a leather covered fitted travelling box and the original numbered key.

CHF 300,000 - 400,000

EUR 200,000 - 260,000 / USD 250,000 - 325,000

Sold: CHF 380,250

C. Rectangular rock crystal case with molded tapered pediment, yellow gold mounted on a molded rectangular black onyx base. D. Mother of pearl with gold skeletonized Roman chapter ring, rose-cut diamond-set inner minute ring, placed within a rectangular frame decorated en suite. Rose-cut diamond-set platinum hands, the reverse of the frame decorated en suite with the dial. M. European Watch & Clock Co. Inc., France, rectangular brass frosted and gilt movement with large going barrel, 13 jewels, gilt platform with straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with three adjustments, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Dim. 90 x 140 x 50 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good

Movement: 2

Very good

Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Mystery Clocks The ?Pendules Mystérieuses?, or Mystery Clocks, were Cartier's masterpieces, the result of the collaboration of Louis Cartier, his principal creative advisors, and the technical skill of Maurice Couët. These clocks were developed after a careful study of those created by Robert-Houdin, the French magician and clockmaker (1805-1871). Couët was 28 years old when he brought his ?mysterious? clock creation to Cartier. The fascination of Couët's invention is based on the principal of an optical illusion. Couët's first mystery clock relied on a lateral double-axle system. In 1920, he devised another model using a single, central axle and subsequently, both methods were used. The mystery is in that the hands that appear to float in space without any connection to the movement, when in fact they are each fixed onto a separate crystal disc. These discs are each surrounded by a tooth-edged border and driven by worm screws fixed at the ends of the two lateral axles, working at the levels of 9 and 3 o'clock, invisibly concealed within the frame. The rotation of the axles is activated by the movement hidden in the base. Therefore, it is not the hands which move but each disc on which they are individually fixed, at two different speeds, one for the hours and one for the minutes.