Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...
Hong Kong, Jun 08, 2008
LOT 416
The Pear Ilbery, London, No. 6141. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1820. Extremely fine and rare, 18K gold, painted on enamel and pearl-set, pear-shaped pocket watch with center-seconds and duplex escapement.
HKD 550,000 - 750,000
USD 72,000 - 100,000 / EUR 45,000 - 60,000
C. Two-body, pear-shaped, the bezel set with split-pearls, the band, stem and bow decorated with pale green, blue, white and red champlevé enamel, hinged and sprung scallop-edged back cover set with a finely painted panel of summer flowers and fruit within a gold and enamel wavy-line border. Hinged and sprung gold cuvette overlaid with translucent guilloché scarlet enamel within a gold, white and pale green enamel scalloped border. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals and outer minute and seconds divisions, Arabic quarter-hour numerals. Blued steel pierced hands. M. 45 mm., gilt "Chinese" caliber, entirely foliate chased and engraved, standing barrel, duplex escapement, three-arm gold balance with three steel screws, blued steel flat balance spring, diamond endstone, index regulator. Movement signed. Dim. 63 x 53 mm. excluding pendant.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3-62 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 5-45-55-01 |
Poor Luminous material reapplied HANDS Original |
Notes
William Ilbery (?-1839). Active in London from 1780 in Goswell Street, he moved to Duncan Terrace towards the end of the 18th century. Following James Cox in London and Jaquet Droz in Switzerland, he too specialized in the production of luxury watches for the Chinese market. His early production was very much in the English style, featuring a full plate movement and an English type single wheel duplex escapement; however, for his highest quality watches, he incorporated a spring detent escapement. The cases were also very much in the style of those produced in England at the time. Later, along with Jaquet Droz?s Swiss production signed in London and that of William Anthony who worked in London, the watch movements he produced were much inspired by the Lepine caliber with free-standing barrel. In fact he set a new standard for all watches made for the Asian market. He organized the production of profusely engraved movements in Switzerland, mainly in Fleurier; he was followed in this by makers such as Bovet and Juvet who also worked in Fleurier (Val de Travers).
Bovet and Juvet organized the mass production of silver-cased watches and later, once their Canton manufactures were opened, they assembled these directly in China. Ilbery can therefore be considered the ?father? of ?Chinese? watches, as they are known today. The cases of Ilbery?s watches were decorated in by Geneva?s best enamelers, such as Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont, who often signed his work, and Jean-Louis Richter, whose enamels were generally not signed. He seems to have maintained close contacts with the continental trade, since a watch signed ?Ilbery Paris? is known and Ilbery & Son are recorded in London and Fleurier, as well as in Canton. ?Chinese? watches were often sold by pairs and therefore each pair was fitted in a specially designed box. Whenever such pairs of watches were enameled, they were always painted in a symmetrically opposed manner, like mirror images.