Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...

Hong Kong, Jun 08, 2008

LOT 86

Westminster Chime Carillon Minute Repeater Constant Piguet, Le Sentier, No. 032209, Swiss patent No. 11948. Made circa 1910. Very fine and very rare, 18K yellow gold, hunting-cased, keyless, minute-repeating pocket watch with Westminster chimes carillon with four hammers on four gongs.

HKD 300,000 - 350,000

USD 40,000 - 46,000 / EUR 25,000 - 30,000

Sold: HKD 324,000

C. Four-body, "bassine", polished. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel spade hands. M. 45 mm., 20???, frosted gilt, 32 jewels, counterpoised straightline lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on four gongs with four hammers activated by a slide on the band. Movement engraved with Constant Piguet's patent number. Diam. 53 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Carillon minute repeating watches are very rare; only a few are known with four hammers or Westminster chimes. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the No. 11948 .The makers that specialized in this type of watch were Constant Piguet, Eduard JeanRichard, and Victorin Piguet. The known tunes played by four hammer carillons are: - Westminster chimes, - the Swiss National anthem, - God Save the King.
A watch playing God Save the King was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, on November 11, 2006, lot 53. Similar watches were sold by Antiquorum: Exceptional Horological Works of Art, Geneva, October 19, 2002, lot 8; and: Important Collectors? Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Hong Kong, July 10, 2005, lot 83; Important Collectors? Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Geneva, May 14, 2006, lot 783 and October 15, 2006, lot 404. A similar watch with Westminster chimes was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, March 16, 2008, lot 569, for 92,400 Swiss Francs.
Constant Piguet
IIn 1896 Constant Piguet is listed as being a gong maker in Le Sentier in the canton of Vaud, making carillon repeating watches with four hammers. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the Swiss patent No. 11948. These watches are those for which he is best known today and bear his patent number on the movement. Literature: Journal Suisse D'Horlogerie, 1896-97, p. 325.
Westminster Chimes
The Westminster chimes are correctly called Cambridge Chimes. They first appeared in 1793 at St. Mary?s Church, Cambridge. They were written by Rev Dr. Joseph Jowett and Dr. John Randall working with undergraduate William Crotch (later first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music) and were adopted by Lord Grimthorpe, designer of the great clock ?Big Ben? ? for the Palace of Westminster. The chimes are based on four notes from Handel?s Messiah and are known locally in Cambridge as ?Jowett?s Jig?.