Collector's Pocket Watches, Wristwatc...

Noga Hilton, Geneva, Apr 12, 2003

LOT 290

Unsigned, German, circa 1720.Fine and very rare gilt bronze automated horizontal table alarm clock igniting a candle.

CHF 35,000 - 40,000

EUR 24,000 - 28,000 / USD 26,000 - 30,000

Sold: CHF 40,250

C.Rectangular, top engraved with two putti holding torches, with compartment for the spring-loaded candle released by the action of the hammer set alongside, side panels engraved with allegorical scenes and Cupids.D. Silver ring with champlevé radial Roman numerals, outer minute track with five-minute Arabic markers, inner brass alarm ring with Arabic numerals, two winding apertures covered with a shutter operated by a square post situated at 10:30. Elaborate blued steel hands. M. Rectangular, 58 x 62 mm., gilt brass, turned baluster pillars, fusee and chain for the going train, fixed barrel for the striking, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance, flat blued steel balance spring, elaborate single-footd cock with streamers, pierced and engraved with exotic birds and a mask, alarm by two hammers on a bell, steel hammer and vice, agate flint, lightening a candle via alarm mechanism or on demand.Dim. 170 x 90 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3 - 14
Movement: 3*
Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

At the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th centuries, unusual automata and alarm clocks were produced by German clockmakers. One was an alarm clock in which a cannon was shot; in another an alarm was rung and a candle was lit. These are rare today. Most are in museums, with a few in private collections.