Antiquorum Auctioneers since 1974

Geneva, Nov 08, 2026

LOT 417

CHEVALIER ET COCHET, SWITZERLAND, POCKET WATCH WITH “WANDERING” AUTOMATA, 18K YELLOW GOLD AND ENAMEL

CHF 12,000 - 22,000

HKD 116,000 - 210,000 / USD 14,600 - 26,700 / EUR 13,000 - 23,800 / JPY 2,310,000 - 4,220,000

Sold: CHF 15,120

A very fine and rare, 18k gold and enamel, manual wind double-face, open-face, key-winding pocket watch with “wandering” automata visible through an aperture at 12 o’clock. White enamel dial with an eccentric time dial in the lower section, featuring Arabic numerals, and fast-and-slow regulation above; Breguet hands. Fausse-plaque finely decorated with a polychrome champlevé enamel scene depicting the entrance to a pavilion. Above, within a semi-circular aperture, a charming cavalcade of finely crafted gold automata figures depicting a pastoral scene with figures and animals, driven by the going train and revolving like a carousel, the entire scene set against a painted enamel landscape depicting a river flowing through the countryside.

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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3-8

Good

Slightly scratched
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-70-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairline

HANDS Original

Brand Chevalier et Cochet, Switzerland

Year Circa 1800

Caliber 48 mm., full plate gilt brass movement with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement with plain brass three armed balance.

Diameter 56 mm.

Weight 96 gr.

Signature Dial

Notes

Chevalier (also Chevallier) & Cochet. Watch and clockmakers from the late 18th and early 19th century, who made very fine watches for the French and Spanish markets, specializing in repeating watches and automaton watches with gold cases, decorated with enamel, pearls and precious and semi-precious stones.

Very few watches of this type, fitted in a “Directoire”-shaped gold
case, are known to exist. They are signed by the horlogers-marchants (watchmakers and merchants), Bouvier Frères (Brothers) and by Chevalier & Cochet, both associations from Geneva. These watches exist with visible balance and / or fast-and-slow regulation.

The Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva kept in its collection few examples signed by Bouvier Frères:
• No. 6 389 (Inv. S-213; on this one, the figures wandering and swivelling on themselves);
• No. 7 066 (Inv. S-666; this one unsigned), a later one, circa 1800- 1805, in Retour d’Egypte (Egyptian Revival) Empire-style (illustrated
by Chapuis, Alfred, & Gélis, Edouard, Le monde des automates, étude historique et technique, Paris, Neuchâtel, 1928, vol. II, p. 71, ill. 357).
• No. 6 129 (Inv. S-211);
• No. 6 589 (Inv. S-212);


Provenance

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