Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Apr 23, 2006

LOT 155

?One Minute Tourbillon? Attributable to Nicole, Nielsen & Co., No. 59790. The case with London hallmarks for 1904? 1905. Very fine and exceptionally rare, 18K gold keyless detent pocket chronometer with one-minute tourbillon regulator and Guillaume balance.

HKD 220,000 - 260,000

USD 28,000 - 34,000 / EUR 24,000 - 28,000

Sold: HKD 295,000

C. Four-body, ?pomme et filet?, by Philip Woodman (Mastermark PW), polished. Hinged gold cuvette. D. Off-white enamel by Willis, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel ?Spade? hands. M. 20???, three-quarter plate, gilt brass, ringed cylindrical pillars, jeweled to the center, going barrel, Nicole Nielsen winding and hand setting, one-minute equidistant 3-arm steel tourbillon carriage, Earnshaw type spring footed detent escapement, anibal-brass Guillaume balance with gold temperature and mean-time adjustment screws, blued steel double-overcoiled free-sprung Breguet balance spring, diamond endstone, lateral gold bridge on two polished steel ringed pillars. Case and movement numbered. Diam. 54 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-7

Good

Oxidized
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-13-01

Good

Slightly damaged

HANDS Original

Notes

Nicole, Nielsen & Co. Perhaps the leading manufacturers of complicated watches in late 19th century London, Nicole Nielsen & Co. made watches and carriage clocks for leading makers such as Frodsham, but also marketed under their own name. The firm originated in 1840 when Adolphe Nicole, a partner in the firm of Nicole & Capt, Geneva, settled in London. From 1858 the firm was at 14 Soho Square, where it remained for the next 75 years. In 1862 Nicole patented his chronograph stop system incorporating a fly-back mechanism. In 1888 the firm was purchased by R.B. North, Nielsen being retained as joint managing director with Harrison Mill Frodsham. In 1888 the firm took the name of Nicole, Nielsen & Co. In 1917 the name of the firm was changed to North & Sons Ltd. They continued in business until 1933. Anibal (Acier au NIckel pour Balanciers) An alloy invented by the Nobel prize winner Dr. Charles Edouard Guillaume, it exhibits unusual properties, both in terms of thermal expansion and in changes in elasticity. These properties are very different from those of two other famous alloys invented by Guillaume, Invar and Elinvar. Around 1900 Guillaume attempted to eliminate the so-called middle temperature error caused by the fact that the change of rate in a timekeeper with a steel-brass bimetallic balance is approximately a linear function of temperature, while the change of rate caused by change in elasticity of a balance spring is approximately a quadratic function. Thus, it equals zero at only two temperatures, causing secondary error. Countless attempts were made to eliminate middle temperature error, usually by means of auxiliary compensation devices. In 1899, Guillaume noticed that steel with an addition of 44.4% nickel had a negative square coefficient of thermal expansion. This alloy, combined with brass in bimetallic lamina, makes its expansion close to quadratic. Balances with bimetallic rims made of anibal and brass are usually called Guillaume balances, or, as their inventor called them, integral balances. When combined with special balance springs, they exhibit remarkable temperature stability, on occasion not exceeding 1/50 second per day at 1oC.