Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, May 13, 2012

LOT 376

EXCEPTIONAL RUSSIAN MASONIC REPEATING WATCH ? FOR PRINCE NIKOLAI BORISOVICH YUSUPOV Swiss, No. 15423/597. Made for Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, circa 1820. Extremely fine and probably unique, large, quarter-repeating, 18K pink and yellow gold and enamel pocket watch with enameled Masonic dial.

CHF 15,000 - 25,000

USD 16,000 - 27,000 / EUR 12,000 - 20,000

Sold: CHF 45,000

C. Three-body, ?Empire?, the bezel chased with fl owers and foliage on a matte ground, pink gold reeded band, pendant and bow, the back cover overlaid with translucent royal blue enamel over radial engine-turning, the center applied with a spectacular cast, chased and engraved yellow gold military trophy in high-relief, the star on the shield with translucent blue enamel center, outer chased hold border to match the bezel. Hinged polished pink gold cuvette with fi ne royal blue champlevé enamel foliate monogram ?NY? beneath a black and red champlevé enamel Russian crown. D. Gold with annular white enamel chapter ring, Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions on a white enamel ring, the center fi nely engraved with canopied Masonic temple and symbols decorated with white, royal blue and red champlevé enamel, light blue champlevé enamel border with engraved gold leaves. Blues steel pierced hands. M. 50 mm, matte gilt, full plate, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance, fl at balance spring, pierced steel balance cock, blued steel regulation dial, foliate engraved backplate furniture, repeating on blued steel gongs activated by depressing the pendant. Case, cuvette and movement numbered. Diam. 60 mm


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

This very fi ne quality and beautifully made watch would appear to have been a special commission by Prince Yusupov, one of the great Russian aristocrats. The case is unusually made of both pink and yellow gold, the rich blue enamel back is set with a spectacular military trophy in high-relief adding to the overall grandeur of the watch. The cuvette is enameled with Prince Yusupov?s monogram beneath the Russian crown and the very fi ne enamel on gold Masonic dial is a great rarity. Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1750-1831) was a Russian nobleman and art collector. A patron of the arts and a keen traveller, he spoke fi ve languages and corresponded with Voltaire. As a diplomat, Prince Nikolai travelled throughout Europe, to France and Versailles, where he met Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, to Germany and Prussia, where he met Frederick the Great, to Austria, where he met Emperor Joseph II, and to Italy. During his journey he purchased a large collection of art for the tsar, acting as a mediator between the tsars and European artists. Yusupov collected for himself as well as collecting for the tsars, and thus his own collection of paintings and objets d'art evolved from the same sources as the Imperial one.His own collection included over 600 paintings, sculptures, works of applied art, and over 20,000 books and porcelain, most of which were on display in his estate. After 1917 his extensive collection was broken up and passed to several different museums, though the bulk of it is kept in Arkhangelskoye, the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum. He died at the age of 80 and was succeeded by his second and only remaining son, Prince Boris.