Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, Mar 16, 2014

LOT 104

JAEGER-LECOULTRE - ATMOS MILLENAIRE MARQUETERIE 'AURORE' EXCEPTIONAL LIMITED EDITION ART NOUVEAU STYLE CLOCK Jaeger-LeCoultre, Swiss, 'Atmos Millénaire Marqueterie - Aurore', No. 13/25, the marquetry in the style of Alphonse Mucha by master cabinetmakers Jerome Boutteçon and Philippe Monti. Made in a limited edition of 25 pieces in 1999. Exceptional and extremely fine, Art Nouveau-style marquetry inlaid wood and glass barometric change-driven clock with 12 month and 1000 year calendar, phases of the moon and lunar calendar. Accompanied by the original leather-covered and brass bound trunk internally fitted with 16 drawers, Certificate of Authenticity, instruction manual, pen, Japanese ink and pallet and 10 lacquered gilt- brass screw-top cylinders numbered XXI-XXX each containing a parchment to record ownership and significant events during each century until the year 3000.

CHF 40,000 - 60,000

HKD 345,000 - 500,000 / USD 45,000 - 67,000

Sold: CHF 50,000

Rectangular ebonised and burr walnut veneered, canted corners and sides with boxwood inlay, glazed hinged door and glazed top, stepped base, hinged side doors veneered internally with burr walnut and very fine circular marquetry panels of semi-nude young ladies in the Art Nouveau style representing Aurore and Crépescule, concealed drawer in the front with secret release catch at the back of the base, containing the century cylinders and pen and ink, the front of the drawer decorated with a further fine marquetry of a semi-nude young lady in a landscape representing `Dusk`, the lockplate of the secret drawer engraved `No. 13/25`, spirit level and adjustable feet for leveling. White laquered with painted Art Nouveau numerals, outer minute track, aperture for blue painted months disc above, the names of the months painted in gold, aperture for the moon phases below with lunar calendar, outer spiral scale calibrated for each year until the year 3000. Blued Breguet hour and minute hands, white and blued year hand. Cal. 555, gilt-brass, vacuum chamber winding the going barrel, lever escapement driven by annular torsion pendulum, locking lever above the pendulum disc, regulator at top.


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Case: 1

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Dial: 1-01

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Dial signed, the underside of the base branded with the signatures of Ph. Monti & J. Boutteçon. DIM. 37 x 31 x 24 cm. This extraordinary 'Atmos du Millénaire Marqueterie' was made in 1999 in a limited edition of twenty-five to celebrate the third Millenium. With the 1000-year full calendar and perpetual barometric pressure-driven movement Jaeger-LeCoultre began a '1000-year journey' beginning on January 1st 2000. The clock would serve as 'the precious receptacle of 1000 years of important moments, traditions, secrets and joys, which undoubtedly would flow through the tide of countless generations'. Therefore the secret drawer has been fitted with ten lacquered engraved gilt tubes each containing a parchment. The pen and ink are provided so that generations of owners will be able to 'record significant family exploits or the grand hours of the millenium'. As a significant record in the Atmos history, Jaeger-LeCoultre recorded all the names of the owners of these 'Atmos du Millénaire Marqueterie' clocks. Written down on parchment these names are stored in a sealed spherical glass container. This container is now in the private collection of the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Jérôme Boutteçon Master inlayer, received the 1994 award as France's finest craftsman. The marquetry of this clock contains around forty different species of wood.