Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Grand Havana Room, May 26, 2004

LOT 33

L. Leroy & Cie, Paris. Produced especially for Grand Duke Kyril of Russia in 1922. Very fine and rare, extra large, silver and 18K pink gold gentleman's wristwatch with co-axial single button chronograph.

USD 10,000 - 12,000

EUR 8,400 - 10,100

Sold: USD 10,350

C. Three-body, solid, polished, two crowns, bezel, case back edge and winding crowns in 18K pink gold, solidsilver case, mobile geometrical silver lugs. D. White enamel with radium-coated Arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds dial at 12. Radium-coated "skeleton" hands. M. Cal. 14''', gilt brass, 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, Breguet balance spring, the co-axial single button on the winding-crown activates the start-stop and return to zero functions of the chronograph, chronograph mechanism visible in the back. Dial signed.Diam. 51 mm.This watch, was bought in a sale of Property from the Estate of the Heirs of Grand Duke Kyril of Russia, first cousin of the Czar Nicholas II and heir to the Romanov throne until his death in 1938.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

Born at Tsarskoe Selo on October 12, 1876, he was the first cousin of Czar Nicholas II. His mother was Maria Pavlovna, Duchess of Mecklembourg-Schwerin (1854-1920). and his father was Vladimir, Grand Duke of Russia (1847-1909), brother of Nicholas? father Czar Alexander III (1854-1894). In 1905 Kyril married Victoria Feodorovna, formerly Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Nicolas II abdicated in 1917 in favor of his brother Mikhail, who abdicated in his turn and was later killed by the Bolsheviks. Thus, Kyril was left head of the Imperial House of Russia. In 1922 he assumed the responsability of Curator of the Throne. In 1924, finally convinced of the death of the Czar and his family, he proclaimed himself Czar and autocrat of all the Russias. Grand Duke Kyril died in exile in Neuilly sur Seine, on October 13, 1938, and in 1995 he and his wife, the Grand Duchess, were buried with military honors in the Crypt of the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.