Important Watches, Collector's Wristw...

The Ritz-carlton Hotel, Hong-kong, Jun 08, 2002

LOT 285

Fritz Piguet et Bachman, 2 Grand Quai, Geneva, No. 5866, circa 1885.Very fine and rare 18K gold hunting-cased keyless minute-repeating watch with chronograph adjusted by the master adjuster Favre-Rochat for the Geneva Observatory Trial.

HKD 40,000 - 55,000

EUR 5,500 - 8,000 / USD 5,000 - 7,000

Sold: HKD 46,000

C. Four-body, "bassine et filets" with concave bezels, polished with applied gold monogram on front cover, gold hinged cuvette. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute ring, outermost red chronograph ring with five-minute/seconds Arabic figures, subsidiary sunk seconds. Gold "Louis XV" hands. M. 43 mm. (19'''), nickel, matte, 35 jewels, straight line calibrated equidistant lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold screws and sunken middle portion of the arms fohelical Palladium Breguet balance spring with inner and outer terminal curves, chronograph works on the back plate, micrometric "swan-neck" regulator, repeating on gongs, slide on the band.Signed on case and movement. Diam. 54 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3 - 21*
Dial: 2 - 01

Notes

The watch comes from a small series of complicated watches destined for the Geneva Observatory Timing Contests. No. 5868 (two digits apart) did well in the 1888 contest, No. 5869 in 1899. We do not know how this one scored. The company specialized in superbly adjusted complicated watches. They employed an excellent adjuster, the famous Favre-Rochat, who rivaled in skill with Batifolier. Both were expert adjusters specializing in complicated watches. Using their skills, Piguet & Bachman, along wih Haas Neveux, competed against each other in Geneva Timing Competitions for the first place in complicated watches. Piguet & Bachman's biggest achievement was first price in the 1888 Geneva Observatory Timing Contest, with 228.8 points. They also won a silver medal in the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition as well as a gold one in Melbourne in 1881. They were the top contenders among those specializing in complicated watches.The palladium balance spring, although more difficult to adjust than the steel one, has a better stability coefficient, therefore giving better results, especially over a long period.