Important Watches, Collector's Wristw...

Hotel Richemond, Geneva, Oct 13, 2001

LOT 436

Unsigned, probably Geneva, circa 1870, made for the Oriental market.Very fine and very rare 18K gold and enamel diamond-set double scent flask in the form of a Royal seal, fitted with a watch.

C. Shaft set lengthwise with good quality diamonds, separated by fluting, center in translucent red enamel over flinqué with four-petal diamond-set flowers, the head with a diamond-set crown, which when unscrewed reveals the scent container, the square-shaped, engraved and diamond-set bottom, fitted with a watch, covers a second scent container with engraved, rotating bezel working as a winding device, one of the side panels hinged to reveal the setting aperture, gold suspension chain in the midle finished with a gold ring. D. White enamel, Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, snap-on fit. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. Shaped, circular center with semi-circular wings, 11 x 15.7 mm, nickel, cylinder escapement, three-arm, gilded balance, flat balance-spring, 10 jewels, winding by means of rotating bezel.Dim. Length 106 mm, shaft diam. 18 mm.Not only a magnificent example of the best of the goldsmith's and the jeweler's art, this flask is significant from a horological point of view because it features early bezel winding, which some years later evolved into the system of winding and setting through the bezel for which M. LeCoultre took a Swiss patent in 1889. See lot No. 75.