Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces...
Hong Kong, Dec 05, 2021
LOT 78
LEMANIA SKELETON AND ENGRAVED CHRONOGRAPH,18K YELLOW GOLD
HKD 51,000 - 77,000
EUR 5,800 - 8,600 / CHF 6,100 - 9,100 / USD 6,600 - 9,900
Sold: HKD 110,000
18K yellow gold, manual-winding, round-shaped, skeleton gentleman’s wristwatch, sapphire-crystal snap-on case-back, fluted case-band, skeleton dial with radial Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds at 9 and five horological complications, including 1/5 second chronograph, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, date at 12 o’clock and moonphase at 12 o’clock.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3-8 |
Good Slightly scratched |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand Lemania
Year Circa 1985-1990
Case No. Unnumbered (by Eric Monnier, la Chaux-de-Fonds)
Bracelet Brown leather strap; gilded metal buckle
Caliber 2612-5, fully skeletonized and engraved, adjusted 5 positions
Dimensions 45.3 x 36.6 mm
Signature Movement
Notes
Skeleton watches have been around for a long time, allowing the amateur to discover the mysteries of the art of watchmaking. They experienced a revival of interest during the Art Deco period, then in the 1980s with the resurgence of mechanical horology after the quartz crisis of the 1970s.
Personalities such as Vincent Calabrese (b.1944) – to whom we owe in 1977 the rectilinear movement, known as the “Golden Bridge In-Line”, where all the wheels and pinions are arranged in a straight line (an invention sold to Corum, which then improved it, patented it and officially launched it in 1980) – or the Claude Meylan House in the Abbaye, Vallée de Joux, founded in 1983, or Kurt Schaffo in Le Locle, have made a speciality of producing skeleton pieces, both pocket and wristwatch, sometimes with self-winding or with horological complications.