The Sandberg Watch Collection

Hotel Richemond, Geneva, Mar 31, 2001

LOT 217

Hebe.Freres Rochat, Geneva, No. 55, box maker: G.R. in a lozenge, Georges Reymond, Geneva, circa 1815.Magnificent and rare, 18 ct. gold, enamel and pearl-set, musical and singing bird box with centre-seconds, quarter repeating watch, made for the Chinese market.

C. Four-body, rectangular with rounded corners, all the panels entirely decorated with translucent red enamel over engine-turning, borders with champlev? floral decoration on a blue ground. The top panel with the oval medallion are within a half pearl-set frame. The painted enamel medallion on the bird cover is of Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth, cup-bearer and handmaiden of the gods, giving a drink of nectar to Jupiter's eagle which holds a thunderbolt in its claw. According to myth, she was te daughter of Jupiter and Juno and was wedded to Hercules. The scene is from an engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi after a painting by Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807). The bird cover is opened, the bird raised and set in motion, and the song started with a slide in the edge of the case. The articulated bird rotates, turns its head, opens its beak, flaps its wings and moves its tail.D. White enamel, radial Roman chapters with minute and seconds dot divisions. Blued-steel 'arrowhead' hands. M. 16 x 65 mm, rectangular, brass, going barrel, cylinder escapement, brass escape wheel, gold three-arm balance, blued-steel flat balance spring, striking on two rectangular-shaped gongs by sliding a bolt at the bottom of the case.The singing bird movement. Small rectangular brass, fusee and chain, eight cams and a piston with sliding whistle for the song's modulation. The cams rotate four times per song and lift one step every rotation, allowing a long duration of singing, the multicoloured feathered bird with moving wings, beak, and turning head rotating on its axis. It is facing the inside of the medallion which is mirror polished and concave, enlarging the bird in its reflection, gold engraved grill. Cam-controlled rasing of the bird medallion and the bird, with five-wheel train finished by a pinion in eccentric bushing to regulate the speed of the opening and closing. The complicated mechanism allows for precision control of the raising of the bird and medallion, and its speed.Musical movement. Pin barrel playing with two stacks of eight tuned 'grasshopper' teeth.Stamped 'FR' and the number on the movementDim. 84 x 59 x 27 mm. Published in the Sandberg book, pages 302-303.