Important Collectors’ Watches, Pocket...

Geneva, Oct 14, 2007

LOT 386

?Deck Chronometer? Henri Motel, Horloger de la Marine, Paris, No. 276. Made circa 1850. Very fine and rare, marine deck watch with pivoted detent escapement.

CHF 10,000 - 12,000

EUR 6,000 - 7,000 / USD 8,500 - 10,000

Sold: CHF 10,620

C. Three-tier mahogany deck watch box, the lid with ivory signature plaque, brass case en forme de tabatière secured inside the mahogany box, screwed-down glazed bezel. D. Matte silvered, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel Breguet hands. M. Brass, fusee with Harrison?s maintaining power and chain under separate bridge, another for the train, escapement in duo-plan arrangement, Motel?s pivoted detent escapement of Louis Berthoud design, four-arm cut bimetallic balance with sliding temperature adjustment weights, free-sprung blued steel conical balance spring, jeweled impulse with protection strip, locking and unlocking pallets, escape wheel teeth with pin holes for oil retention. Dial, case and movement signed. Dim. 17.5 x 14.5 x 8.6 cm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3-26

Good

Upgraded
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-6-01

Good

Slightly oxidized

HANDS Original

Notes

This is an excellent example of the final development of Motel?s chronometers, with the final shape of the fusee curve, the isochronous conical balance spring, and a superbly finished escapement with curved studs, jeweled and capped balance and escape wheel, with ruby locking, unlocking, and impulse jewels.

Henri Motel (1786-1859)

The best known of Berthoud?s pupils, Jean-François Henri Motel, was born at Margny-les-Compiegne on 31 December 1786. His father, Louis Nicolas Motel, was both tavern-keeper and farmer. In 1794, after his preliminary studies, Motel went to Prytanée and then to the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Chalons where he remained as a boarding student from year XI until 1 Vendémiaire An XIV (1806), at which time he obtained the title of ?Aspirant? by ministerial decision. On March 7, 1806 he was chosen to be instructed at government expense by Louis Berthoud, horloger de la Marine, in accord with the Imperial Decree of 1804 concerning the training of ?mécaniciens de la Marine?. Motel had barely finished his apprenticeship when Berthoud died suddenly, on 18 September 1813. His widow appealed to Motel to run the workshop and complete the training of her two sons. On 14 August 1819 Motel married Louise Elisabeth Herbet. He exhibited for the first time in 1827; the jury awarded him a Silver Medal for his chronometers and astronomical clocks. It was considered that ?none produces horology with greater precision than Mr. Motel?. Henri Motel retired in 1857 to his property of La Chapelle en Serval (Oise), where he died on 10 November 1859. Literature : J.-C. Sabrier: La Longitude en Mer à l?heure de Louis Berthoud et Henri Motel, Antiquorum Editions, Genève 1993.