Exceptional Horological Sale Celebrat...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Geneva, Apr 24, 2004

LOT 103

Julien Le Roy, Paris, No. 1771, circa 1741. Very fine and rare 20K gold and enamel, diamond-set quarter-repeating watch with à tact option.

CHF 6,000 - 8,000

EUR 3,800 - 5,000 / USD 4,700 - 6,000

Sold: CHF 10,925

C. Two-body, transition from oignon to Louis XV type, the back decorated with gold foliage on translucent green enamel background, band pierced for sound, front bezel also pierced and decorated with en suite flowers, gold pushbutton at 8 o?clock for à tact option, diamond-set thumb pieces.D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions with large five-minute Arabic markers. Elaborate diamond-set hands.M. 41 mm, hinged, frosted gilt full-plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, micrometric potence adjustment, steel balance with flat balance spring, continental cock pierced and engraved with trellis-work pattern, ruby endstone, "bâte levée", repeating on bell by depressing the pendant.Signed on dial and movement.Diam. 48 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3 - 56
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 14 - 28 - 01

Notes

An excellent watch demonstrating Le Roy?s talent. The watch is relatively early, being made around the time he invented the "bâte levée" arrangement, here implemented. The watch case is in a transitional style between oignon and Louis XV. It still has the thick proportions of the oignon but is smaller, according to the new fashion, and is in gold and enamel, materials that were almost never employed for oignon cases. Great attention has been paid to every detail; the hands, for instance, are remarkably well executed, with graduated diamonds.