A TRIBUTE TO PRECISION AND COMPLICATE...

Hotel Nogalhilton Geneve, Nov 11, 2001

LOT 60

Precision Timekeeper with 5 ComplicationsMugnier a Paris, circa 1820.Very fine and rare month-going astronomical center-seconds mantle regulator with triple calendar and phases and age of the moon, striking hours and half hours.

CHF 100,000 - 150,000

USD 62,000 - 93,000

Sold: CHF 86,000

C. Rectangular, mahogany veneered, front panel with applied fluted wooden moldings, veneered base supported by four gilt brass bear paws, glazed window in the lower part with ormolu frame, hinged veneered door in the back. D. Circular, white enamel with Roman numerals, inner hour divisions, outer minutes and seconds divisions, winding apertures at 4 and 8 o'clock. Blued steel Breguet hands. Two subsidiary dials at the bottom, the one to the left with phases of the moon and its age in the sectorn the top border, the one to the right with days of the week, date and months, hinged ormolu bezels on each. M. Circular, 13,7 cm, brass, cylindrical pillars, pin-wheel escapement with the escape wheel set outside the back plate, half second-beating pendulum with heavy gilt brass bob and steel rod, knife-edge suspension, micrometric beat adjustment on the crutch, calendar mechanism set on separate V-shaped frame, striking on a large bell with count wheel on the back plate.Signed on the dial.Dim. Height 46 cm, width 27 cm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 21 - 01

Notes

Mugnier, Jeune (Etienne Mugnier)Often signing Mugnier Jeune. He was one of two pupils of Breguet (the other was Charles Oudin) who most closely followed their master. Breguet's influence on their work was very strong. Mugnier became watchmaker to Emperor Napoleon I, and later to Son Altesse Sérénissime Monsieur, the brother of King Louis XVIII, (future Charles X). He signed his watches "Horloger de S.M. L'Empereur et Roi" and sometimes "LL. MM. II et RR" meaning (Leurs Majestés Impériales et Royales), the title given to Napolon and his wife. From 1810 to 1830 he worked in the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs. From 1840 the firm was taken over by Lepinte.