Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Nov 16, 2008

LOT 478

Dead Seconds with Virgule Escapement Made in Geneva, circa 1820. Fine and rare, 18K gold pocket watch with dead-seconds and virgule escapement.

CHF 4,400 - 6,000

USD 4,000 - 5,500 / EUR 2,800 - 3,800

Sold: CHF 4,200

C. Two-body, ?Empire?, polished with flat band. D.White enamel, an eccentric meantime chapter set to the lower half with Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, center dead-seconds with one second divisions and Arabic 15 second numerals, the upper half decorated with a polychrome scene of a washerwoman in a landscape. Pierced gold hour and minute hands, blued steel seconds hand. M. 48 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, virgule escapement, 3-arm brass balance, continental pierced and engraved cock, lever at 6 for start/stop. Diam. 55 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3-10

Good

Patinated
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-29-03

Good

Lacking elements

HANDS Period

Notes

It is unusual to find an independent dead-seconds watch with the rarely utilized virgule escapement. The virgule escapement was never widely used because of its extreme delicacy and the difficulty of its construction and repair. Therefore watches with this escapement were made in small numbers and even fewer survive today. Literature: La Montre Française, Adolphe Chapiro, Les Editions de l?Amateur, 1991, pp. 210 & 211, figs. 444 - 446.