Geneva, May 12, 2024
LOT 273
HENGGI, SWITZERLAND, DAY-DATE CENTER SECOND WITH POUZAIT ESCAPEMENT, 18K PINK GOLD
CHF 5,000 - 10,000
HKD 43,300 - 87,000 / USD 5,600 - 11,100 / EUR 5,100 - 10,200
Sold: CHF 5,625
A very fine and rare, 18k gold, manual wind large open face pocket watch, center dead seconds watch with Pouzait escapement, day-date, eccentric dial.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3-19 |
Good Dent(s) |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand Henggi, Switzerland
Year Circa 1780
Movement No. 555
Caliber Hinged, 22’’’, gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, Pouzait lever escapement with extra-large plain gold four-arm balance, flat balance spring with regulator, extra-large skeletonized gilt brass cock covering the back plate, with diamond end-stone.
Diameter 60 mm.
Signature Dial
Notes
Pouzait Escapement During the late 18th century, watchmakers sought to produce watches with dead center-seconds hands, in great favor in scientific circles and on the Chinese market. Pouzait?s effort featured a lever escapement associated with a large seconds-beating balance. His escapement was much appreciated by the Chinese before the invention by Jacot of the socalled ?Chinese duplex? escapement, enabling the production of dead center-seconds watches. Jean Moïse Pouzait (1743-1793) In 1786 Jean Moïse Pouzait presented the Geneva Society of Arts with a model of his lever escapement. Pouzait, who eleven years earlier had invented the independent seconds mechanism, possibly wanted to make a simpler mechanism for dead seconds. Whatever his motives, he was one of the first to introduce the lever escapement to the Continent.