Exceptional Horological Works of Art

Geneva, Oct 19, 2002

LOT 118

Unsigned, attributed to Pierre Simon Gounouilhou, Geneva, circa 1820. Very fine and extremely rare, 18K gold, diamond-set quarter-hour repeating ring watch with special escape-ment and visible diamond-set balance.

CHF 25,000 - 30,000

EUR 16,000 - 20,000

Sold: CHF 46,000

C. Rectangular top with canted corners. Bezel chiseled and engraved with laurel-leaf wreath, beaded edge, band lightly engraved with repeated pattern, bottom with sliding panel revealing winding and setting apertures. D. Following the shape of the case, translucent dark blue enamel, top with aperture for diamond-set spinning balance, lower part with white enamel Breguet chapter with outer minute track. Blued steel "arrowhead" hands. M. 14 x 26.2 mm. (6 x 12???), rectangular with canted corners, virgule escapement, brass escape wheel, plain diamond-set balance with four spiral arms, flat balance spring, fixed barrel, quarter-hour repeater mounted on the back plate, all-or-nothing mechanism, activated by a slide at the edge of the ring, striking on a bell mounted over the escapement. Dim. Length 32 mm., width 21 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

For a note concerning ring watches, see previous lot. Gounouilhou can be counted among the handful of ingenious precision mechanics, who at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th, created Geneva?s reputation as the center of small mechanical marvels such as this lot. The watch is described and illustrated in "Magic, Music and Motion, An Exhibition organized by Asprey", New York, 1998, No. 4. Pierre Simon Gounouilhou (1779-1847) was born in 1779, settled in Geneva (Quai Neuf en l?Isle, No. 241) in 1799, and died in 1847. A maker of great repute and very imaginative, he was a maker of automata and musical objects and watches, ring watches with virgule escape-ment and quarter-repeating, watches with cases using unusual decorative techniques such as granulation. He left very interesting shop notes with an abundance of information about the habits and customs of early 19th century Geneva watchmakers. His repute was so great that his shop lured some of the best of Geneva?s workers. One of them, Monsieur Pitt, was in turn induced in 1829 by Vacheron Constantin to upgrade their automaton watches and left Gounouilhou for them. His company name continued to be used after his death until 1870. "Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois", by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998.