Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jun 27, 2009

LOT 111

Quarter-Repeating & Jump Hours Charles Oudin, Breveté, Fournisseur de sa Sainteté Her de S.A. L?impératrice, 52 Palais Royal, No. 221, case No. 18669. Made circa 1835. Very fine, 18K rose gold quarter-repeating pocket watch with jump hours. To be sold without reserve

HKD 20,000 - 35,000

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

C. Four-body, ?forme collier?, engine turned back ?grains d?orge? and engine-turned band. Hinged gilt cuvette. D. Silver, engine-turned, jump hour aperture at the top with Arabic numerals, eccentric minute chapter, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel lozenge hand. M. 42 (19'''), frosted gilt, cylinder escapement, three-arm gold balance with flat balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs by pull-and-twist piston in the pendant. Cuvette signed. Diam. 48 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: A

Good
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3**

Good

Repair required, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-7-01

Good

Oxidized

HANDS Original

Notes

Charles Oudin Born in Clermont in 1772. He was a pupil of Breguet and one of his best foremen. He devised a way of fitting equation of time to souscription watches. Oudin was in business on his own in the Galerie de Pierre, Palais Royal, from circa 1804 to 1825, and was then succeeded by his son, who transferred the firm to Galerie Montpensier, 1830-1840, and subsequently took Détouche into partnership. A. Charpentier was the successor to Oudin Fils, using the signature: Charles Oudin à Paris, Horloger de L.L. M.M., l'Empereur et l'Impératrice de Russie. To accompany the display at the 1862 Exhibition in London, Oudin-Charpentier produced a book entitled: "Catalogue of Chief Exhibits by Oudin-Charpentier, principal clockmaker to their Majesties The Queen and King of Spain and to the Imperial Navy". Oudin-Charpentier was made official watchmaker of the French Navy: a mosaic which still exists today, at No. 52 Place du Palais Royal, bears witness to his title "Horloger de la Marine Nationale". Considering the quality of his work, it is surprising that so little is recorded about his life. The Oudin Company perpetuated the Breguet tradition.