Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Dec 02, 2003

LOT 198

Staples, London, No. 1352, circa 1780.Very fine and rare, gilt, pair-cased, astro-nomical,lunar calendar, center-seconds,stop-watch, two-tune musical automaton coach watch, with unusualescapement, made for the Chinese market.

C. two hinged bezels, pierced and chiseled in foliage with four rosettesfinished at the edges with alternating red and white stones. Inner: double-body,back glazed for the automaton, sides pierced and chiseled andengraved with foliage. D. eccentric white enamel with Arabic numerals, gold"Spade" hands, central seconds with outer Arabic seconds, subsidiary dialsfor days of the week, days of the month, lunar calendar, regulator hand andtune-changing hand at the bottom. Automaton: Consits of three concentricdiscs. The outer one painted with eight lower limbs of the devil, a priest, aman, a witch, a bird, the figure of Death, a lawyer, a gentleman. The middlering contains the seven middle portions of the same subjects except the bird,the inner ring contains three human faces, a skull for Death's head, a fox andSatan's head. Due to the uneven number of subjects on each disk, the disksconstantly align differently as the music plays, resulting, for example, in thepriest having a fox?s head, or the gentleman having Satan's body. M. full-plate,fusée and chain, virgule escapement with flat brass escape wheel withsharp teeth, the impulse is only on the balance staff, plain steel balance, flatbalance spring. Musical train with fixed barrel, five vibrating blades and fivehammers on five bells, cam for changing the melody, the cylinder consists often discs with milled triangular flirts (unlike the usual pins). The automaton isdriven by the music train. The music plays every hour on the hour or ondemand.Dial signed.Diam. 114 mm.