Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, Nov 11, 2012

LOT 405

JAQUET DROZ ? EIGHT TUNE MUSICAL & QUARTER-STRIKING BRACKET CLOCK Pierre Jaquet Droz, a la Chaux-de-Fonds. Made circa 1780. Extremely fine and very rare, Louis XVI, wood and ormolu, 8-day going, hour and quarter-striking on two bells, musical bracket clock with cylinder musical mechanism playing on ten bells with nineteen hammers, playing a selection of eight tunes with sequential consecutive movements on the hour or at will. Accompanied by the original wall bracket.

CHF 25,000 - 35,000

USD 27,000 - 37,000 / EUR 21,000 - 30,000

Sold: CHF 31,250

C. Waisted form, Louis XVI gilt bronze architectural and foliate mounts, swagged urn and fl ower fi nial, double hairy paw feet, sides with pierced brass grilles hinged to access the musical movement, the gilt bronze door cast with foliate decoration at the edge and at the lower edge threedimensional trophy of science and music. D. White enamel, convex, bold radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost Arabic fi ve-minute numerals. Fine pierced and engraved gilt brass hands. M. 13 x 15 cm., horizontally rectangular, brass plates, four pillars, going barrels for both trains, verge escapement, steel rod pendulum with circular brass bob, striking the hours and quarters on two bells with two hammers, rods and levers for hourly musical activation on the backplate. Musical bell movement: rectangular brass plates, massive fusee and chain, fl y governor, 14 cm pinned brass cylinder, playing a selection of eight tunes on ten bells with nineteen hammers, tune selection and start/stop levers for the music inside the front. Movement signed. Dim. 125 x 48 x 20 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-75-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Slightly restored soft enamel

HANDS Original

Notes

Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790) Born on July 28, 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Pierre Jaquet-Droz was the son of a farmer who was an occasional clockmaker as well. He studied humanities and philosophy in Basel from 1738 to 1739 and then became interested in horology. We know little of him as a person, only that he was sober, serious, taciturn, and very careful in his work. On October 25, 1750, Pierre Jaquet-Droz married Marianne Sandoz, the daughter of Civil Lieutenant Abraham Louis Sandoz, who was later to accompany Pierre on his trip to Spain. At the age of thirty-four, Pierre Jaquet- Droz was left a widower. He never remarried, and seems to have devoted himself to his work as a watchmaker with all the more intensity. The second child of Pierre Jaquet- Droz and his wife Marianne, Henry-Louis, was born on October 13, 1752. Recognizing that he was a gifted child, his father sent him to Nancy to study music, science, mathematics, physics and drawing. In 1758, Jaquet-Droz made the long and diffi cult journey to Spain, to present his works to King Ferdinand VI. When he returned, the sum he brought back enabled him to devote himself to the making of the famous Jaquet-Droz automata, the writer, draughtsman, and musician, and to found the successful Jaquet-Droz fi rm, in London and Geneva, for the making of extraordinary mechanical and musical pieces. Upon his return in 1769, Henry-Louis took his place in his father's work-shop alongside Jean-Frederic Leschot (1746-1824), an adoptive son. It was the beginning of a close and fruitful partnership between the three men. Pierre Jaquet-Droz was the fi rst to make singing bird boxes and enjoyed an excellent reputation for complicated clocks, Neuchâtel clocks and automaton timepieces. When Pierre Jaquet- Droz grew old, the fi rm was taken over by his son Henry-Louis and Jean Frédéric Leschot, under the name of Jaquet-Droz & Leschot. Pierre Jaquet-Droz died in Biel in 1790, at the age of 69. Upon his father's retirement from the family fi rm, Henry-Louis naturally replaced him, traveling to London to look after business. He also maintained an active interest in the Société des Arts, studying questions related to the well-being of the Genevese "Fabrique" and seeking solutions to problems which plagued his colleagues and fellow members. Henry- Louis' health was poor, however. Despite a journey undertaken to improve his condition, he died in Naples in November 1791, at the early age of 41. Subsequently, Jean Frédéric Leschot took over the fi rm.