Important Collector's Watches, Pocket...

Geneva, Nov 11, 2007

LOT 82

Independent Center-Seconds & 1/4 Secondes Foudroyantes Chas. E. Jacot, Locle, Chaux de Fonds, No. 6418. Made circa 1870. Very fine and rare, 18K gold, hunting-cased pocket watch with Charles. E. Jacot?s patented two-train independent center-seconds and quarter-second diablotine.

CHF 4,000 - 6,000

EUR 2,500 - 3,500 / USD 3,500 - 5,000

Sold: CHF 4,484

C. Four-body, "bassine et filets", engine-turned covers with polished borders, reeded band. Hinged gold cuvette with engine-turned border. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost seconds divided into fifths, subsidiary quarter-second jump diablotine. Gold "Breguet" hands with blued steel tips. M. 42 mm., 19''', rhodium-plated, 28 jewels, two-train, ?Isochronal Vibrations?, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, the lever fork on a bar with counterpoised ends and banking in a slot, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance-spring, index regulator, independent seconds and quarter-second diablotine activated by a push piece in the band. Dial and cuvette and movement signed, case and movement numbered. Diam. 55 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good

Case: 3-16

Good

Rusted

Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Charles E. Jacot (1817-1897)

Worked in La Chaux de Fonds, Le Locle, Baltimore and New York. He was a prolific inventor and innovator, especially of escapement work. At the age of 19 he visited his cousin, the son of Abraham Perrelet, in Le Locle and became involved with watchmaking. In 1837, he went to New York City, where he was to stay for 20 years. Jacot invented a modification of the duplex escapement with a jumping seconds hand, known as the ?Jacot Duplex?, used extensively in watches made for the Chinese market. While in America, he registered 12 American patents for perfecting the construction of watches. The stop-watch feature on the present watch was patented on June 8, 1858, by which time Jacot had already returned to Switzerland. There he founded the Jacot & Salzmann firm in La Chaux de Fonds. By the 1870s his firm was called Charles E. Jacot. One of the founders of the Intercantonal Societies of Jurassian Industries along with Longines. Charles Jacot died in August 1897.