Important Collectors Wristwatches, P...
Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Oct 15, 2006
LOT 365
"Wooden Watch ? Sautrog Escapement" Attributable to M.S. Bronnikoff, Vjatka, Russian. Made circa 1870. Very fine and extremely rare, hunting-cased pocket watch made entirely of box-wood and bone, with ?sautrog? escapement and original fitted wooden box and wood and brass key.
CHF 16,000 - 20,000
EUR 10,000 - 13,000 / USD 13,000 - 16,000
C. Three-body, box-wood, hinged back and front covers with ring-turned decoration. D. Wooden with Arabic numerals on bone cartouches and subsidiary seconds. Bone hands. M. Entirely made of wood except for the balance spring and pivots, with going barrel, ?sautrog? escapement, plain wood three-arm balance, the balance staff made of bone. Diam. 58 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Notes
This is a particularly large and well preserved example of a Bronnikoff
type watch with the original outer protective box. The
escapement is particularly unusual and is known as ?sautrog?
(pig?s trough). It is a hybrid of the duplex and cylinder escapements,
the escape wheel is very similar to a duplex escape wheel but acts
against a bone balance staff very similar to that of a cylinder
escapement. To our best knowledge no other examples of watches
with the ?sautrog? escapement have appeared at auction. The name
of the escapement derives from the ?trough? shaped recess in the
balance staff.
Bronnikov.
A family living in Vjatka, Russia, which specialized in the making of all-wood and all-ivory watches. The first recorded member of the family was Ivan Bronnikov (c. 1770 - 1860), a skillful joiner and turner. Upon the occasion of an exhibition in 1837, the Vjatka Industrial Town Council asked Ivan to exhibit some objects of his making. He refused, saying that he was too old, but his son, Semyon Ivanovitch (1800 - 1875) would contribute "some small thing". This turned out to be a pocket watch entirely carved out of wood, which greatly impressed everyone. It is said that the future czar Alexander II purchased the watch. Encouraged by this success, Semyon continued the manufacture of wood and ivory watches. Semyon had seven sons. Of them, Mikhail Semyonovitch and Nicolai Semyonovitch continued his work, as did Mikhail's son Nicolai Mikhailovitch, who was the last watchmaker in the family. Nicolai Mikhailovitch left Vjatka for Moscow in 1909 or 1910 and is said to have worked there for the firm of Paul Boure. The Bronnikovs showed their watches at local exhibitions and in Moscow. In 1867 the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered two pairs of watches. An Honor Prize was won for wood and ivory watches at the St. Petersburg Exhibition in 1870. In 1873, the Bronnikovs took part in the International Exhibition in Vienna, and in 1896 Mikhail Semyonovitch won a silver medal for a palm-wood watch with palm-wood chain that he showed at the All- Russian Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1900 Bronnikov watches were sent to the Paris International Exhibition. In 1902 Nicolai Mikhailovitch exhibited a birchwood watch at the All-Russian Exhibition in St. Petersburg. The clockwork parts were made of various woods, including walnut, honeysuckle, boxwood, and hardened bamboo; the cases from birchwood, or boxwood, and the dials were often decorated with ivory or mother-of-pearl. Bronnikov watches feature an unusual type of construction: instead of the wheels being installed between two plates as is usually the case, the dial serves as the pillar plate, and is also an integral part of the case. These watches were not intended for everyday use but rather as expensive and rare souvenirs. This was not the first use of wood as applied to watch mechanisms, however: the Russian mechanician Kulibin used wood for some parts of his clocks and "pendulum watches". Skorodumov, a peasant of the Burga village in the Novgorod region, also used wood as the main material for his watches. As to the number of Bronnikov watches produced, it seems likely that the three watchmaking generations of the Bronnikov family may have made some 500 watches. The number of surviving Bronnikov watches has been estimated at approximately 250. Although many - but not all - Bronnikov watches are signed, they do not always bear the maker?s initials, which often makes it difficult to determine which Bronnikov made the watch. The signature is carved on the inside of the back cover. In Russia, Bronnikov watches are found in the collections of the Moscow Kremlin Armory, the Hermitage, the Moscow Clock Industry Research Institute, the Tbilisi Museum of People's Art, the Physics and Math Salon of Dresden, in museums in Vjatka, Slobodskoi, Veliky Ustyug, Cherepovets, and in private collections in Moscow, Angarsk, Zlatoust, and Irkutsk. Known signatures include "M.S. Bronnikov in Vjatka", "The Bronnikov Brothers in Vjatka", and "N.M. Bronnikov in Vjatka". Literature: "The Bronnikov Dynasty" by Theodore R. Crom, NAWCC Bulletin Vol. 43/6 No. 335, December 2001.
Bronnikov.
A family living in Vjatka, Russia, which specialized in the making of all-wood and all-ivory watches. The first recorded member of the family was Ivan Bronnikov (c. 1770 - 1860), a skillful joiner and turner. Upon the occasion of an exhibition in 1837, the Vjatka Industrial Town Council asked Ivan to exhibit some objects of his making. He refused, saying that he was too old, but his son, Semyon Ivanovitch (1800 - 1875) would contribute "some small thing". This turned out to be a pocket watch entirely carved out of wood, which greatly impressed everyone. It is said that the future czar Alexander II purchased the watch. Encouraged by this success, Semyon continued the manufacture of wood and ivory watches. Semyon had seven sons. Of them, Mikhail Semyonovitch and Nicolai Semyonovitch continued his work, as did Mikhail's son Nicolai Mikhailovitch, who was the last watchmaker in the family. Nicolai Mikhailovitch left Vjatka for Moscow in 1909 or 1910 and is said to have worked there for the firm of Paul Boure. The Bronnikovs showed their watches at local exhibitions and in Moscow. In 1867 the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered two pairs of watches. An Honor Prize was won for wood and ivory watches at the St. Petersburg Exhibition in 1870. In 1873, the Bronnikovs took part in the International Exhibition in Vienna, and in 1896 Mikhail Semyonovitch won a silver medal for a palm-wood watch with palm-wood chain that he showed at the All- Russian Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1900 Bronnikov watches were sent to the Paris International Exhibition. In 1902 Nicolai Mikhailovitch exhibited a birchwood watch at the All-Russian Exhibition in St. Petersburg. The clockwork parts were made of various woods, including walnut, honeysuckle, boxwood, and hardened bamboo; the cases from birchwood, or boxwood, and the dials were often decorated with ivory or mother-of-pearl. Bronnikov watches feature an unusual type of construction: instead of the wheels being installed between two plates as is usually the case, the dial serves as the pillar plate, and is also an integral part of the case. These watches were not intended for everyday use but rather as expensive and rare souvenirs. This was not the first use of wood as applied to watch mechanisms, however: the Russian mechanician Kulibin used wood for some parts of his clocks and "pendulum watches". Skorodumov, a peasant of the Burga village in the Novgorod region, also used wood as the main material for his watches. As to the number of Bronnikov watches produced, it seems likely that the three watchmaking generations of the Bronnikov family may have made some 500 watches. The number of surviving Bronnikov watches has been estimated at approximately 250. Although many - but not all - Bronnikov watches are signed, they do not always bear the maker?s initials, which often makes it difficult to determine which Bronnikov made the watch. The signature is carved on the inside of the back cover. In Russia, Bronnikov watches are found in the collections of the Moscow Kremlin Armory, the Hermitage, the Moscow Clock Industry Research Institute, the Tbilisi Museum of People's Art, the Physics and Math Salon of Dresden, in museums in Vjatka, Slobodskoi, Veliky Ustyug, Cherepovets, and in private collections in Moscow, Angarsk, Zlatoust, and Irkutsk. Known signatures include "M.S. Bronnikov in Vjatka", "The Bronnikov Brothers in Vjatka", and "N.M. Bronnikov in Vjatka". Literature: "The Bronnikov Dynasty" by Theodore R. Crom, NAWCC Bulletin Vol. 43/6 No. 335, December 2001.