Important Watches, Pocket Watches and...

Noga Hilton Hotel, Nov 13, 2005

LOT 109

?Portrait of Nawab Bahadur Khanji? J & Co., Swiss, No. 35404, enamel painting signed by Amédée Champod. Made circa 1890. Very fine 18K gold and enamel, diamond-set, hunting-cased, keyless two-train, grande and petite sonnerie quarter-repeating clockwatch, made on special order for Nawab Bahadur Khanji.

CHF 30,000 - 40,000

EUR 20,000 - 26,000 / USD 23,000 - 30,000

Sold: CHF 34,500

C. Four-body, solid, 'bassine et filets', the back cover with a finely painted on enamel portrait of Nawab Bahadur Khanji, signed 'A.C.', (the monogram of Amédée Champod), the front with the rose diamond-set monogram 'HB', the band and bezels engraved with a repeated pattern, the gold hinged cuvette enamelled with a second portrait, a glazed gold bezel below the cuvette to view the movement. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel ?spade? hands. M. 18''', nickel, 'fausses côtes' decoration, 31 jewels, tandem winding, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, striking and repeating on two gongs activated by a slide in the band, silence/striking lever at 12 o'clock, lever for changing from grande to petite sonnerie at 6 o'clock. Case stamped J & Co. Diam. 54 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 4-6-7*

Fair

Slightly oxidized

Oxidized

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

A very similar watch, only differing in the inner portrait, was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, The Sandberg Watch Collection, March 31, 2001, Lot 86. That watch is published in the book of The Sandberg Collection, page 354-355. P. Amédée Champod (1834-1913) One of the most celebrated enamel painters of the end of the 19th century, Amédée Champod specialised in portraits of important personalities from the Orient as well as Europe, notably a portrait of Pope Pius IX. He also painted fine landscapes and hunting scenes for the Chinese and the Indian markets. He worked for Bovet, Vaucher, Vrard, and Courvoisier Frères, among others. His technique was outstanding and his portraits could today be compared with the most accurate color photographs. 'Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois', Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998.