Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 18, 1997

LOT 643

Freres Rochat, Geneve, circa 1810. Very fine and rare 18K gold and enamel, singing bi rd box with centre seconds musical watch.

CHF 110,000 - 130,000

C. Two parts with rounded corners, engine-turned side and back, the borders and corners with black champleve enamelled and chased foliage decoration, the hinged front panel with glazed dial aperture, hinged right side panel for the key compartment. The lid with four two-coloured gold small baskets of flowers chased in high relief over a matted ground, further foliage decoration on borders and around the singing bird aperture, the singing bird cover enamelled with a finely painted bunch of flowers over a pink flinque ground. D. Small white enamel with Roman numerals. Blued steel hands. Gold dial-plate. M. Gilt brass with free standing going barrel, cylinder escapement with plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring and gilt brass continental cock. Pin drum musical movement with two stacks of 10 steel vibrating steel blades. Singing bird movement: Rectangular plates with turned pillars, fusee with chain, cylindrical bellow, the bird with moving wings, tail, beak and turning head, controlled by a stack of 8 cams, gold engraved grill. Signed with the Rochat " F.R." punch mark on the back plate. Dim. 94 x 58 x 16 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 21-51

Period

Partially reprinted

Notes

Freres Rochat of Geneva ( Amy Napoleon et Louis) watchmakers, 140, rue de Coutance, between 1810 and 1835, apprentice with their father. Worked for Meylan in Brassus, then for lagnet-Droz and Leschot. They set up on their own around 1810. They produced most of the best complicated automata of the period and apparently all the singing bird pistols, now known.