Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Apr 23, 2006

LOT 415

?The Flower Gatherers ? Mirror Image Pair? Courvoisier Frères, Swiss, No. 75246 & No. 75249. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1890. Very fine and rare, small, mirror image pair of 18K yellow gold and painted on enamel lady?s keyless pendant watches.

HKD 110,000 - 150,000

USD 14,000 - 19,000 / EUR 12,000 - 16,000

Sold: HKD 135,700

C. Both, four-body with scalloped edge engraved with formal decoration, the cover enamel panels with symmetrical scenes, each depicting a boy in a landscape holding a basket of flowers, one painted over a dark blue guilloché ground, the other against a pink guilloché ground; both enamel back panels painted with a composition of summer flowers over a powder blue ground. Hinged gold cuvette. D. Both, white enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, red outer Arabic five-minute numerals, subsidiary seconds. Gold paste-set fancy hands. M. Identical 12???, gilt brass, both with 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring. Signed on the dials and movements, Chinese signature inside the covers. Diam. 36 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3-6

Good

Slightly oxidized
Movement: 4*

Fair

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

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Courvoisier Frères. Were very innovative and important makers of the mid 19th century. Their carriage clocks are considered to be among the best produced in Switzerland at the time. Their striking was typically Swiss, quite different than most French clocks. The company was founded in 1770 by J. Robert, who went into partnership with his son-in-law Louis Courvoisier. Along with Jaquet-Droz, they were the most important makers of musical clocks. In 1842, two sons of Louis Courvoisier, Henri-Louis and his younger brother Philippe Auguste re-named the company "Courvoisier Frères". Their reputation was among the best in the region. In 1867, Gaikwar de Baroda paid 100,000 francs for one of their watches. When the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds needed a gift for Prussian King Frederick William IV, they entrusted Courvoisier Frères with the making of it. It was reportedly the "thinnest watch in the world".