Exceptional Horological Works of Art

Geneva, Oct 19, 2002

LOT 43

"Moses" Unsigned, attributed to Dubois, Neuchâtel, No. 1, circa 1800. Extremely rare and very fine large 18K pink gold, enamel and pearl-set watch, probably the first ?Moses? automaton, with independent Jacquemart quarter-repeating on a bell and special escapement.

CHF 1 - 1

EUR 1 - 1

Sold: CHF 311,500

C. Three body, massive, polished, with the bell mounted in a highly unusual way to the band, wound from the back. D. Small eccentric white enamel with Arabic chapters, gilt outer minute track. Gold "spade" hands. Set at the left of a gold plate finely enameled with the people of Israel against Mount Sinai, the all-seeing eye of the God in the background in translucent gold, with applied raised varicolored gold plate chased with rocks, foliage and figures of Moses and five supplicants, a cave below revealing a further plate decorated in enamel and engraved gold with applied gold cherub jacks flanking an altar to Love. M. 53 mm. (23 1/2???), frosted gilt full plate with fixed barrel, virgule escapement, brass escape wheel, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring, skeletonized polished steel cock, highly polished steel-work set on the backplate, repeating on a bell by depressing the pendant, the automaton of complicated combination of wheels, levers, racks and cams is activated by the same pendant, via switch lever protruding from under the dial at 1 o?clock. Punched on the movement with numeral "1", case punched with Neuchâtel chevron gold mark, casemaker?s mark "FTD" and number 4536. Diam. 66 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 21 - 01

Notes

Provenance: Tonkin Collection, New York. The "Moses" automaton has always been considered one of the most important Swiss automaton watches. The complexity of the movement required to operate the automaton in a series of delayed actions is a triumph of the watchmaker?s skills. Moses audibly strikes the rock twice with his staff, which opens to let the water (simulated by two twisted glass rods) flow. Moses raises his hand as the people of Israel gaze on the miracle with asto-nishment and admiration; two people below drink from goblets. Then Moses strikes the rock again, it closes and Moses lowers his hand. Including the present watch, five examples appear to have survived: * 1. Sandoz Collection, Chateau des Monts. * 2. Beyer Museum, Zürich. * 3. Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois. * 4. Antiquorum October 18, 1992, lot No. 499, now in Patek Philippe Museum. * 5. This Lot. All differ slightly in enameling, case shape, size, and finish. The present watch appears to be the oldest of them all. The movement is numbered "1" indicating that it is the first Moses automaton made. The form of the case, the pendant, the way the bell is mounted, the use of a bell instead of gongs, all point to the end of the 1700?s or the very beginning of the 1800?s. The Sandoz Collection has a very similar Moses automaton. Its case is also stamped with the same maker?s mark: "FTD", and is numbered 7609, over 3000 numbers later than our case. At the time it might take ten to twenty years to make 3000 cases. All these factors lead to the conclusion that the present lot is the first of the famous "Moses" automata. Literature : A. Chapuis, "Les Automa-tes", Neuchâtel, 1949, p. 188, fig. 213, 214, for a similar watch in the Sandoz Collection.