Important Watches, Collector's Wristw...

The Ritz-carlton Hotel, Jun 06, 2004

LOT 350

Doctor?s Watch Swiss, circa 1800. Very fine and rare 18K gold center-seconds watch with Pouzait escapement and date.

HKD 90,000 - 112,000

EUR 9,500 - 13,000 / USD 12,000 - 15,000

C. Two-body, glazed back, ?Directoire?, polished.D. White enamel, eccentric, set at the lower part with Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary date at 12. Gold ?beetle and poker? hands. M. 50 mm, gilt and engraved brass full plate, fixed barrel, slow-beat Pouzait lever escapement with large diamond-set balance with four curved arms set in the center of the back plate, large safety roller acting on a single pin set on one of the arms and acting on inside and outside walls depending if the entry or exit pallet is engaged.Diam. 60 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-19-24-01

Good

Dent(s)

Slightly chipped

HANDS Original

Notes

Pouzait Escapement. During the last quarter of the 18th century, several watchmakers tried to produce watches with dead center-seconds hands, much in favor among the scientific community and on the Chinese market. The attempt made by Mo?se Pouzait featured a lever escapement associated with a large seconds-beating balance. Due to its spectacular aspect, and in spite if its inertia sensitivity, Pouzait?s escapement was much appreciated by the Chinese, before the invention by Jacot of the so-called ?Chinese duplex? escapement, enabling the production of dead center-seconds watches. In 1786 Pouzait made a model of his escapement which he presented to the Geneva Soci?t? des Arts, and which can still be seen in their collection. Pouzait. (1743-1793) In 1786 Jean Mo?se Pouzait presented to the Society of Arts in Geneva a model of his lever escapement. The idea seems to derive from the pin-wheel escapement in clocks and as in the pin-wheel there was no safety action (later ones have the safety action). There are some differences: Pouzait?s pallets are not just pins, they are small pin-like rectangular teeth, so in fact it is an escapement with divided lift. Pouzait, who eleven years earlier had invented the independent seconds mechanism, possibly wanted to make a simpler mechanism for dead seconds. Whatever were his motives, he was one of the first to introduce the lever escapement to the Continent.