Important collector's watches, wristw...

Hotel Richemond, Geneva, Apr 13, 2002

LOT 65

The Theater Attributable to the Du Bois workshop, Locle, made for the Chinese market, circa 1800. Extremely rare and fine 18K gold and enamel, pearl-set, double-face musical automaton watch.

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Sold: CHF 267,500

C. Three-body, Empire, glazed covers, band decorated with rectangular panels of royal blue translucent enamel over flinqué rosette with gold oval-patterned borders, half pearl-set bezels. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute dot divisions with five-minute Arabic markers, winding aperture between 8 and 9 o?clock, at 4 o?clock aperture for winding the music and automaton. Automaton scene: exceptionally well done, depicting two couples dancing on a revolving stage with mirrored walls under a multicolored gold dome, the theater?s walls with niches, each with a statue of a neo-classically dressed woman painted in grisaille enamel, white enamel top frame. The couple is dancing to the music provided by a lady sitting to the right, playing a harp, while a gentleman to the left beats time to the music, the top with a finely painted scene of the Jura mountains with a lakeside castle. M. 51 mm, gilt full plate, cylindrical pillars, going barrel, cylinder escapement with brass escape wheel, three-arm plain brass balance, flat balance spring, pinned cylinder musical movement with eight sections, each with two vibrating teeth, the cylinder and theater driven from the crown wheel of the fixed barrel, planetary gearing set under the platform commanding the dancers? rotation. Diam. 61 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-51

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Among automaton watches, the ?Theater? is one of the rarest scenes. Only seven are known: 1. Gélis Collection 2. Sandoz Collection, previously in the Loup Collection 3. Salomons Collection 4. Lot No. 258, signed Louis Duchêne et Fils, sold at Antiquorum, April 21, 1996 5. Lot No. 74, featured in Antiquorum?s auction The Art of Horology in Geneva, November 13-14, 1999 6. Du Bois et Fils in a private German Collection. 7. This lot All, except the first utilize similar ebauches, and feature a similar manner of fixing the movement to the case, which strongly suggests that they were made by the same maker. The Gélis watch is based on a different ebauche. Only two of them are signed, one by Duchêne et Fils from Geneva, the other by Du Bois et Fils from Le Locle. Four of them (Nos 1,2,3,7) were made for the Chinese market, which explains why they are not signed. The movement shows characteristics of the high-quality work from the Neuchâtel area. Movements with the same characteristics are found in certain automaton watches, particularly those signed by Du Bois et Fils. It appears that they were either made by him or that he was associated with a workshop making them. Some of these movements found their way into Duchêne et Fils watches, some into watches of other makers. The automaton dial of the present watch is almost identical to the number 4 listed above, and signed by Duchêne et Fils. Both Duchêne et Fils and Du Bois et Fils are responsible for some of the most magnificent automaton watches ever produced, including the ?Tightrope Dancer? (The Sandberg Watch Collection, Antiquorum, March 31 and April 1, 2001, lot 271), ?Moses? (sold by Antiquorum on 18 October 1992, lot 492), and of course, the ?Theater?. This piece features one of the earliest applications of the invention of Antoine Favre, presented in 1796 to the Geneva Société des Arts, for a ?carillon without bells playing two tunes and imitating the sound of the Mandolin, enclosed within a snuffbox of ordinary size?, in which vibrating blades, or teeth, replaced the much more bulky and fragile carillon bells. Du Bois et Fils The company was established by Philippe Du Bois (1738-1808) and became one of the most eminent in the Neuchâtel area for over two centuries. ?Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois? by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998.