Exceptional Horological Works of Art

Geneva, Oct 19, 2002

LOT 130

The Dutch Kitchen Attributed to Pierre Simon Gou-nouilhou, Geneva, No. 8030, circa 1815. Very rare and equally fine 18K gold and enamel double-face watch with an automaton scene.

CHF 55,000 - 65,000

EUR 42,000 - 42,000

C. Double-body, "Directoire", polished with glazed back. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track. Gold "ogival" hands. Magnificent varicolored gold automaton scene applied over a painted ground depicting a kitchen: a lady sitting by a fire over which a chicken is being roasted, a small child opposite her, above, a barking dog running in a rotating cage turns the spit, at the right water is running from a fountain, below a dog plays with a cat. M. 49 mm. (22???), gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring, automaton driven by an independent movement with going barrel and five-wheel train, eccentrically mounted and adjustable pinion as the governor, driving the automata by means of cams and levers. Punched twice with the serial number on the movement. Diam. 57 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 22 - 29 - 01

Notes

"The Kitchen" is one of the most successful automata produced in Geneva in the early 19th century. Only a few are known. It appears that they were produced only by Gounouilhou and Dubois & Fils. However, those made by Gounouilhou employ fusee and chain, rarely found in Swiss watches. Dubois used a going barrel, and his kitchen was run from the repeating mechanism. There are less than a dozen "Kitchen" automata known. Among them: 1. Gounouilhou, illustrated in "Histoire et Technique de La Montre Suisse", by E. Jaquet and A. Chapuis, 1945, pl. 102; 2. Unsigned and unattributed in "Le Monde des Automates", A. Chapuis and E. Gelis, Paris, 1928, p. 87; 3. Signed Breguet, probably by Gounouilhou, with fusee and chain, sold by Antiquorum in Geneva on April 13, 1997, lot No. 595; 4. Dubois & Fils, going barrel, automaton driven from the repeating train, sold by Antiquorum in Hong Kong on June 10, 1997, lot 411; 5. Unsigned, in later case, Sotheby?s New York, Oct 1993, lot No. 185; 6. Unsigned, with independent automaton, Christie?s Geneva, May 1993, lot No. 123; 7. 3 in a private collection; 8. The present watch. For a biography of Pierre Simon Gounouilhou, see lot 118.