Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Grand Havana Room, May 26, 2004

LOT 223

De Belle à Paris, No. 4435. Produced circa 1800. Fine, astronomic, silver calendar watch.

USD 6,000 - 8,000

EUR 5,000 - 6,700

Sold: USD 6,900

C. Two-body,?Directoire?, polished. D. White enamel, small central Roman hour chapter with minute divisions and 5-minute red Arabic markers, six subsidiary dials for the days of the week with governing planets, seconds, age of the moon and moon phases, date, months with the corresponding number of days and day division. Gold pierced hands. M. 52 mm (23???), frosted gilt, full-plate with cylindrical pillars, fusée and chain, verge escapement, brass balance with flat balance spring, continental cck.Movement signed.Diam. 64 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: A

Good
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

After the French Revolution a new digital system was adopted. It affected weights and measures as well as time. The entire system for time measurement was changed. The 24-hour day was divided into ten hours, each having 100 minutes, each minute being subdivided into 100 seconds. Thus, for example, 12:30 PM was 5:20:83.3 in decimal time. The decimalization of time was introduced on November 24, 1793. Whereas the new standards for weights and measures were relatively easy to implement, the new division of time proved impossible to enforce because the traditional system was too deeply ingrained in people?s minds. Therefore the provision for decimal hours was suspended on April 7, 1795, leaving the mandatory Revolutionary calendar.