Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...
Hong Kong, Jun 08, 2008
LOT 9
Antoine Frères, Besançon, case No. 52458. Made circa 1875. Very fine, miniature, 18K pink gold Louis XVI style keyless lady's pendant watch.
HKD 25,000 - 33,000
USD 3,300 - 4,300 / EUR 2,000 - 2,600
Sold: HKD 26,400
C. Four-body, ?Louis XVI?, polished. Dedicated hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions and Arabic five- minute numerals. Pierced gold Louis XV hands. M. 7''', frosted gilt bar calibre, wolf's tooth winding, 8 jewels, cylinder escapement, frosted gilt three-arm balance, flat blued steel balance spring, index regulator. Dial and cuvette signed. Diam. 20 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Notes
The making of miniature watches has always been a challenge for watchmakers. Many have vied with each other to produce
ever smaller mechanisms enabling them to boast of making "The World's Smallest Watch". The earliest known surviving
example is a tiny gold and enamel clockwatch by an unknown German maker dating from circa 1610. This remarkable watch had
once belonged to Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia (The Winter Queen) and was sold as part of the Harcourt Collection at Sotheby's
London in 1992.
Breguet famously made a small number of miniature watches with keyless winding, these watches measuring only 18 mm. were certainly the smallest watches with keyless winding and hand-setting produced by any firm before the mid-19th Century. An example was sold by Antiquorum Geneva on 20th October 1991, Lot 263. The world's smallest tourbillon, made by Fritz-Andre Robert Charrue of Le Locle and dated 1945, was sold at Antiquorum, April 12, 2003, lot 559.
Breguet famously made a small number of miniature watches with keyless winding, these watches measuring only 18 mm. were certainly the smallest watches with keyless winding and hand-setting produced by any firm before the mid-19th Century. An example was sold by Antiquorum Geneva on 20th October 1991, Lot 263. The world's smallest tourbillon, made by Fritz-Andre Robert Charrue of Le Locle and dated 1945, was sold at Antiquorum, April 12, 2003, lot 559.