Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Grand Havana Room, May 26, 2004

LOT 124

Lenville, No. 383256, Swiss. Produced for the American market circa 1890. Fine and extremely rare, five-minute-repeating, 14K gold watch of special patented construction.

USD 4,000 - 6,000

EUR 3,400 - 5,000

C. Two-body, solid, engine-turned case back, bezels engraved with repeated pattern, bow part of the movement ring. D. White enamel with painted radial Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions with 5-minute red Arabic markers. Blued steel ?spade? hands. M. Cal.44 mm (20???), nickel, 3/4-plate with crescent cut in the center, 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with Breguet balance spring, Stauffer?s repeating mechanism utilizing the going train barrel asthe power source, with a single gong and single hammer, repeating by tripping a pushbutton at 9.Movement signed.Diam. 58 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

In 1887, Henri Onesime Stauffer of Ponts-Martel near Neuchâtel filed a patent for ?Improvement in Repeating Watches?, utilizing the going train mainspring as the power source for the repeater, making it a ?trip? repeater activated by a small push to the pushbutton, a vast simplification for double train ?trip? repeaters. Stauffer applied clockwatch technology to his idea, resulting in improvements for which a patent was granted 11 months after the application. Some of his watches have a winding indicator; one has Grande et Petite Sonnerie. He is probably best remembered for his patented design for a watch movement with bridges spelling out ?1789?- the year of the French Revolution.