Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces

Hog Kong, Feb 26, 2011

LOT 452

The Ostrich Fan Watch - Emperor Napoleon III Presentation Czapek & Cie, Place Vendome 23 (Paris), No. 1840. Made for presentation by the Emperor of the French, Napoleon III (1808-1873), circa 1855. Extremely rare and magnificent, 18K gold and painted on enamel, pearl and rose-cut diamond-set, white ostrich feather fan with a concealed watch and pencil.

HKD 800,000 - 1,200,000

USD 100,000 - 155,000 / EUR 80,000 - 120,000

Sold: HKD 2,060,000

C. The watch revealed by a spring-loaded cover engraved with the cypher and crown of Napoleon III flanked by winged cherubs, translucent royal blue enamel ground, the shaped body of the fan fully decorated with blue and white champleve enamel and engraved flowers and foliage, the reverse side decorated with a finely painted on enamel panel of the Madonna della Sedia after Raphael and decorated en suite, the sceptre-form handle with tapered shaft decorated with champleve enamel and engraved gold, lobed terminal richly set with rose-cut diamonds and pearls, acorn finial pulling out to detach the pencil. D. Small white enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track. Blued steel spade hands. Polished gold dial plate. M. Shaped gilt brass with going barrel, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring with regulator set through the dial plate. Signed and numbered on the dial plate, movement numbered. Dim. 22 x 7 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-32-74

Good

Slightly restored

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Slightly restored hard enamel

Movement: 3**

Good

Repair required, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-71-74-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairlines

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Slightly restored hard enamel

HANDS Original

Notes

This truly magnificent and precious fan is one of very few known of this type and would have been extremely expensive when it was originally sold. The present example is particularly rare, being signed by Czapek & Cie and made for presentation by Napoleon III. Juliusz Gruzewski, Czapek?s partner, was a personal friend of Napoleon III, a fact which no doubt allowed him to become watchmaker to the Emperor, supplying many of the watches that were given by him as diplomatic gifts.
Czapek & Cie. Franciszek Czapek was a Polish émigré who arrived in Switzerland in 1832 after the fall of the Polish insurrection against Russia. On May 1, 1839, Antoni Patek and François Czapek (his name having been gallicized) established a business in Geneva under the name of Patek et Czapek. The partnership lasted six years, during which some exceptional watches were produced. After the dissolution, Patek established Patek, Philippe Co. with a new partner, Adrien Philippe, and Czapek founded "Czapek et Cie", also with a new partner, Juliusz Gruzewski. Czapek?s new company did well. Gruzewski was a personal friend of Napoleon III, and Czapek quickly became watchmaker to the court of the Emperor (Unger's calendar for 1850, Warsaw, 1850). He had a factory in Geneva, a shop in Warsaw, and another in Paris. He wrote a small book about watches and watchmaking in which he announced that he was working on a larger volume, but he unfortunately died before publishing it.
Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoléon III (1808?1873) President of the French Republic from 1848 to 1851, from 2 December 1851 to 2 December 1852 the ruler of a dictatorial government, then Emperor of the French as Napoléon III, until 1870. The nephew of Napoleon I, he spent his youth in exile in Switzerland and Germany (1815 ?30). With the death in 1832 of Napoleon's son, Napoléon-François-Charles-Joseph Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt, he became the claimant to the French throne. After an abortive coup d'état, he was exiled by King Louis-Philippe to the U.S. After another attempted coup (1840), he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned. He escaped to England (1846) and returned to Paris (1848), where he was elected to the National Assembly. He evoked the legend of Napoleon Bonaparte to win the popular vote as president of the Second Republic. To expand his power, he staged a coup in 1851; in 1852 he became emperor of the Second Empire. Seeking to re-establish French power, he led France into the Crimean War and helped negotiate the treaty at the Congress of Paris (1856). He sided with Sicily against Austria (1859) and was victorious at the Battle of Solferino. He helped Italy achieve unity and annexed Savoy and Nice (1860). France enjoyed prosperity during much of his reign. In the 1860s he gradually introduced political liberalization. He expected material rewards from his "Latin empire" after installing Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico (1864 ? 67) but was disappointed. He kept France neutral in the Austro-Prussian War (1866), but in 1870 Otto von Bismarck contrived to involve France in the disastrous Franco-Prussian War. After leading his troops to defeat in the Battle of Sedan (September 1870), Napoleon III surrendered and was deposed as emperor. He went into exile in England and died there in 1873.