Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Nov 16, 2008

LOT 1

Oignon with Central Fusee and Alarm Mousset a Paris. Made circa 1690. Very fine and very rare, Louis XIV, gilt brass and leather, singlehand oignon watch with alarm and mock pendulum, wound through the center, one of only three known watches with central fusee and stepped barrel, the only known example alsowith alarm.

CHF 15,000 - 20,000

USD 14,000 - 18,000 / EUR 9,200 - 13,000

C. Two-body, ?oignon?, the back and bezel overlaid with leather, loose ring pendant. D. Annular white enamel with radial blue Roman numerals, inner quarter-hour ring, the center with gilt brass alarm setting disc with Arabic numerals. Steel fleur-de-lys hand. M. 45 mm, frosted gilt full plate, baluster pillars, fusee and chain, the short fusee with three spirals mounted centrally and directly wound from the center, the barrel with undertier for the fusee chain coils, verge escapement, steel balance with mock pendulum, short spring, chased cock decorated with symmetrical inhabited foliate scrolls, Tompion-type regulator with silver scale disc, alarm train with engraved gilt standing barrel, steel train, sounding with a single hammer on a bell in the back of the case. Movement signed. Diam. 58 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3-19

Good

Dent(s)
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-24-28-01

Good

Slightly chipped

Replacements

HANDS Original

Notes

The present watch is one of only three known examples of an oignon watch with a central fusee and the only known example also with alarm. The winding arbor, also carrying the hand, leads directly through to the fusee. To fit this arrangement beneath the escapement and within the confines of a normal sizedmovement, the fusee is very short, with only three spirals, the barrel is normal sized but again due to space limits it has a lower inset tier beneath, which takes up the coils of the chain. The main advantage of this arrangement was that it gave the watch up to 30 hours of power reserve. However, with the introduction of the minute hand around 1700 it was impossible to place the fusee in the center and the arrangement became obsolete. One might wonder whether Breguet was aware of this system when he designed the ?Souscription? watch, with a single hand wound through the center with a centrally mounted barrel.
Literature: For an article on this watch, see: ?Les Oignons Louis XIV ayant une fusee au centre? (seconde partie), Adolphe Chapiro, Bulletin Ancaha, No. 65, Automne 1992.