Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Du Rhone, Apr 02, 2006

LOT 486

?King Umberto I of Italy Presentation Watch? Louis Audemars, Brassus & Geneve, No. 13350. Made for Umberto I, King of Italy, retailed by C. Morel Jeune, 65, Rue de Rome, à Marseille, circa 1890. Very fine and rare, 18K gold and enamel, diamond set, minute-repeating, hunting cased, keyless Royal presentation pocket watch.

CHF 12,000 - 14,000

108 8,000 - 9,000

Sold: CHF 23,600

C. Four body, "bassine et filets", polished, the hinged and sprung front cover with the champlevé enameled diamond-set coat of arms of Umberto I, King of Italy, faceted band. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with radial Arabic numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. 19"', gilt brass, 25 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Movement and case signed, cuvette signed by the retailer. Diam. 52 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Such watches were usually bought by sovereigns in order to be presented to important visitors or in recognition of loyalty. Other watches with the same provenance were sold by Antiquorum in Geneva on October 14, 1990: one made by Vacheron & Constantin, lot 42, the other by Patek Philippe, lot 308. Another one, sold in Geneva on October 19, 1997, was made by Patek Philippe, lot 522.

Umberto I (1844-1900)
Was born on March 14, 1844, in Turin (Piedmont), Kingdom of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy and King of Italy. His marriage to his cousin Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, on April 22, 1868, and the birth of their son, the future Vittorio Emanuele III, on November 11, 1869, also gained him public sympathy in spite of prevailing antimonarchist sentiment. Umberto I led his country out of its isolation and into the Triple Alliance with Austria and Germany. He supported nationalistic and imperialistic policies that led to disaster for Italy and helped create the atmosphere in which he was assassinated in Monza by an anarchist on July 29, 1900.