Geneva, May 14, 2023

LOT 81

EARLY POCKET WATCH, SILVER

CHF 4,000 - 8,000

EUR 4,100 - 8,200 / USD 4,600 - 9,100 / HKD 35,400 - 71,000

TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

Sold: CHF 10,625

A very fine engraved silver pair-cased watch.
Silver case with split bezel and band engraved with acanthes and leaf pattern foliage, the back with a finely executed panel of summer flowers in low relief on a hatched ground, the winding shutter formed as an engraved rose.
Leather covered with piquet pinwork decoration.


Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent

Case: 3

Good

Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Brand Estienne Huber a Rouen, France

Year Circa 1660

Material Silver

Diameter 48 mm.

Caliber 18''', gilt full plate with turned vase pillars, fusee with gut, three wheel train with verge escapement, plain two-arm steel balance without spring, oval pattern pierced and florally engraved cock secured by a screw, worm and wheel set up with pierced blued-steel brackets and silver indicator disc.

Signature Movement

Notes

Born in 1608, Estienne was the eldest son from his father's first marriage to Catherine Lescuyer, and as such gained his right to mastership through patrimony - Fils de Maître. - in 1656. That he received the patent so late in his career is certainly due to his having worked with his father up to the time of the latter's death circa 1654. He married Elisabeth Ronnieu, by whorn he had three sons who all subsequently became watchmakers. Estienne died in 1676.. Literature: Illustrated Clutton & Daniels, Watches, figs. 92 A - C. Cammerer Cuss, Watches, plate 23. Exhibited: Antiquarian Horological Society 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Science Museum, May - August 1964, exhibit No. 63. The cases of both this watch and the previous lot are particularly well engraved with very similar designs incorporating summer flowers composed in an open and flowing manner. They seem to be taken from one of the anonymous XVIIth century designs for watchmakers, reproduced by E. Gelis : L'Horlogerie Ancienne, Paris 1949, pl. 13.