Important Collectors Wristwatches, P...
Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Oct 15, 2006
LOT 231
?Special Escapement, Quarter Repeater? Père Bouhelier, No. 773. Made circa 1830. Fine and rare, silver, quarter-repeating pocket watch with special escapement.
CHF 4,500 - 6,500
EUR 2,800 - 4,000 / USD 3,700 - 5,300
C. Three-body, ?bassine et filets?, polished, reeded band. Hinged gilt metal cuvette. D. White enamel with upright Arabic numerals, outer minute track. Gold ?spade? hands. M. 45 mm., frosted gilt, 10 jewels, standing barrel, special polished steel lateral lever escapement with elongated lever arm, the fork engaging a locking pin on the balance pivot, plain three-arm balance, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, repeating with two massive polished steel hammers on two gongs activated by a pulland- twist button in the pendant, polished steel repeating work under the dial. Cuvette signed. Diam. 54 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3-9 |
Good Scratched |
Movement: 3** |
Good Repair required, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-50-01 |
Good Refreshed HANDS Original |
Notes
A native of Saint Julien, a small village near Charquemont, in Franche Comte, where his surname was very common. Although mostly farmers, the population made cylinder escapements in winter-time, for both the French and the Swiss makers. It is interesting to note that the few watches known from this maker are all constructed with this very unusual calibre and all set with the same type of straight-line lever escapement. Very few watches made by Père Bouhelier are known to exist. Two were discussed in Horlogerie Ancienne, bulletin of the A.N.C.1--I. A., another was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, 20 October 1991, lot No. 54, and another, Antiquorum, Geneva, October 12, 1996. These watches were made with a very special primitive calibre, each of special design. It was difficult to decide whether he was ahead of his time, technologically speaking, or behind. As Père Bouhelier was a priest who emigrated to England during the French Revolution, it is most likely that he learned how to make the lever escapements during his enforced exile based on his own trial and error.