Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Grand Havana Room, May 26, 2004

LOT 235

Courvoisier Frères, No. 97444. Produced for @C. Marcks & Co., Bombay & Poona, circa 1865. Exceptional, massive, hunting cased, keyless, early minute-repeating, 18K gold perpetual calendar watch with double-jumping date, skeletonized movement and visible repeating work.

USD 30,000 - 40,000

EUR 25,000 - 34,000

Sold: USD 50,600

C. Six-body,?bassine et filets?, solid, engine-turned with reeded band, round pendant, gold hinged cuvette over glazed gold bezel to view the movement and the repeating work. D. White enamel with Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, inner radial Arabic date ring with brakes for the sunk subsidiary dial for the days of the week concentric with the months at 6, subsidiary sunk seconds dial. Gold ?spade? hands. M. Cal. 47 mm (21???), frosted gilt, skeletonized half-plate, standing barrel, straiht line calibrated lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance, Breguet balance spring, unusual perpetual calendar driven from the center date wheel, early repeating system set on the back plate with the hour snail mounted on the all-or-nothing lever, repeating on gongs through activating slide on the band, Antoine LeCoultre rocking bar winding/setting mechanism (invented circa 1847). Diam. 64 mm


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

Courvoisier Frères Were very innovative and important makers of the mid 19th century. Their carriage clocks are considered to be among the best produced in Switzerland at the time. Their striking was typically Swiss, quite different than most French clocks. The present watch falls into the same category, being an unusual and complicated piece, specific to the Neuchâtel area. The arrangement of the repeating work set on the back plate so that it may be admired, is typical of the best Courvoisier pieces. The perpetual calendar with its date hand jumping twice, so as not to interfere with the subsidiary dials, is both an elegant and technically clever solution. It implements two cams, one to jump over the seconds, the other one to jump over the days. The company was founded in 1770 by J. Robert, who went into partnership with his son-in-law Louis Courvoisier. Along with Jaquet-Droz, they were the most important makers of musical clocks. In 1842, two sons of Louis Courvoisier, Henri-Louis and his younger brother Philippe Auguste, re-named the company ?Courvoisier Frères?. Their reputation was among the best in the region. In 1867, Gaikwar de Baroda paid 100,000 francs for one of their watches. When the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds needed a gift for Prussian King Frederick William IV, they entrusted Courvoisier Frères with the making of it. It was reportedly the "thinnest watch in the world".