Exceptional Horological Works of Art

Geneva, Oct 19, 2002

LOT 42

By the River Ilbery, London, No. 6425 and 6426, circa 1818. Exceptionally fine and very rare pearl-set 18K gold and painted on enamel true pair of watches with special escapements, made for the Chinese market.

CHF 1 - 1

EUR 1 - 1

Sold: CHF 465,500

C. Three-body, spring-loaded back cover very finely painted on enamel with a river bank scene with an Alpine landscape in the background, a tree, lavishly enhanced with half pearls forming a portal, half pearl-set bezels, champlevé enamel band, pendant and bow forming foliate and geometrical patterns, scalloped edges decorated with champlevé enamel in a foliate pattern, gold and enamel hinged cuvette entirely decorated with repeated patterns. D. White enamel, Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Gold "heart" hands. M. 49 mm. (22???), gilt brass fully engraved "Chinese" caliber, free-standing barrel, ruby duplex escapement, plain steel three-arm balance, flat balance spring, diamond endstone. Signed on the movement. Diam. 62 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3 - 51
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

The richness of the Orient and its fascination with lavishly decorated European watches, created a market to which the Swiss and particularly the Genevans catered, creating objects of unsurpassable beauty, of which this lot is a perfect and rare example. Most decorative watches destined for the Chinese market were made in pairs, but over the years have been separated, having been, among other things, "acquired" by Europeans during the Boxer rebellion. These watches are not only exceptional from an artistic point of view, but also because they have remained together. "Chinese" watches were generally sold in pairs and each pair was fitted in a specially designed box. Whenever such pairs of watches were enameled, they were always painted in a symmetrically opposed manner, like mirror images. For a biography of William Ilbery, see previous lot.