Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Nov 12, 2006

LOT 198

?Miniature Minute Repeater? L. Leroy & Cie, Bd. de la Madeleine a Paris, No. 67170. Made circa 1900. Very fine and extremely rare, miniature, minute-repeating, 18K gold and rose diamond-set keyless lady?s pendant watch.

CHF 16,000 - 19,000

EUR 10,000 - 12,000 / USD 13,000 - 15,000

Sold: CHF 31,860

C. Four-body, ?bassine?, polished, the back cover inset with a platinum letter ?M? set with rose-cut diamonds. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with Dauphine numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Gold ?spade? hands. M. 23 mm., 10???, frosted gilt, 25 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. Dial, cuvette and movement signed. Diam. 28 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Miniature minute-repeating watches are extremely rare, the present watch is one of the smallest ever made. Another, by Gallopin, 28 mm in size, was sold by Antiquorum, New York, May 26, 2004, lot 292. Another measuring 27 mm, by Haas Neveaux & Cie, was sold by Antiquorum Geneva, November 11, 2004, lot 435. The Leroy lady?s minute-repeater was considered at the time to be the smallest minute repeater in the world, along with the Audemars Piguet lady?s pendant watch illustrated in "Audemars Piguet" by Gisbert Brunner, Christian Pfeiffer-Belli, and Martin K. Wehrli, p. 116, photos 85 a, b, and c. L. Leroy & Cie. Founded in 1764 by Charles Le Roy, Quai des Orfèvres in Paris. Le Roy offered a choice of watches and pendulums, of high quality which earned him the support of the Court. During the Revolution, his connections to the ancien régime almost caused him to lose his life. During the Terror he signed ?EYLOR?. In 1827, Charles Le Roy took his son Louis into partnership, changing the company?s name to ?Le Roy & Fils, Horlogers du Roi?. In 1889, Louis Leroy took over the company. Louis Leroy opened a manufacture in Besançon, consequently abandoning his Swiss suppliers. Le Roy began to participate in the chronometer timing contests of the Observatory of Besançon, with remarkable results. At the end of the century, L. Leroy & Cie. moved to 7, Boulevard de la Madeleine.