Important Watches, Collectors’ Wristw...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Nov 14, 2004

LOT 451

Ernest Guinand, Locle, No. 3321, circa 1870, made for the Indian market. Very fine and important, 18K gold, slim dress watch with one-minute tourbillon regulator with unusual layout and straight-line lever escapement in a leather-covered fitted box, accompanied by crank lever key.

CHF 60,000 - 80,000

EUR 40,000 - 50,000 / USD 50,000 - 65,000

Sold: CHF 66,700

C. Five-body, by ?WR?, "Bassine et filets", engine-turned and florally engraved, gold hinged cuvette.D. Silvered, engine-turned, with applied varicolored gold foliage decoration and radial Roman numerals and subsidiary seconds. Gilt ?Louis XV? hands. M. 43 mm (19'''), frosted gilt, caliber with the top bridge forming initial ?G? for Guinand, 15 jewels, polished steel Guinand carriage with straight line lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with Breguet balance spring.The bridge in the shape of a letter ?G? for Guinand, numbered on the pillar plate.Diam. 53 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Notes

The present watch appears to be one of only two of this caliber. The other one was sold by Antiquorum at ?The Longitude at the Eve of the Third Millennium? sale, October 23, 1999, lot 55. Ernest Guinand, the most eminent of Swiss tourbillon makers of the period, rarely signed his watches. They were sold to établisseurs who signed them and in turn sold them to their clients. The present watch, is one of only two known signed Guinand tourbillons the other was sold by Antiquorum in 1999. The ?signature? takes the form of the shape of the bridge, which forms the letter G. The present watch is also rare because it features a straight line lever escapement. Guinand generally used a lateral lever escapement, if he used a lever escapement at all. Ernest Guinand c. 1810 ? 1879 Was an important Master Horologist from Le Locle, who, along with Auguste Grether from Ponts-de-Martel 1817-1879, specialized in the production of tourbillon carriages. Guinand must have begun tourbillon making in the 1850s or early 1860s. In 1864 Patek Philippe chose him to build their first tourbillon regulator. He designed at least three models of tourbillon carriages, based on an A-shaped frame. He worked for several important makers, including Girard-Perregaux, Patek Philippe, Montandon, and many others. He used the pivoted detent escapement, very rarely the spring detent, sometimes the lateral lever escapement, and apparently extremely few straight line lever escapements, as in the present watch.