Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jul 10, 2005

LOT 122

Daniel De St. Leu, Servant to Her Majesty, London, No. 3221. Made circa 1780. Extremely fine and rare, pair cased silver hour striking coach watch with alarm.

HKD 100,000 - 120,000

EUR 10,000 - 12,000 / USD 13,000 - 15,000

Sold: HKD 143,750

C. Outer: two-body, by John Terrill Pain (ITP), very finely pierced, chasedand engraved with scrolls and flowers, thecenter engraved with an iris in a bouquet within a laurel-leaf oval border.Inner: two-body, by John Terrill Pain (ITP), polished bezel,very finely pierced, chased and engraved with inhabited foliage, floralswags and a bust portrait of an old man in Tudor dress,strike/silent lever in the bezel. D. White enamel with radial Romannumerals, outer minute track and Arabic five minute numerals, inneralarm ring with Arabic numerals and half and quarter hour markers. Bluedsteel beetle and poker hands, polished steel alarm hand.M. 75 mm., gilt, turned pillars, fusee with chain, spring barrels forstriking and alarm trains, steel hammers, verge escapement, threearmpolished steel balance, blued steel flat balance-spring, finely pierced,chased and engraved backplate furniture, calibrated silveredregulator disc, gilt dust cover.Dial, movement and dust cover signed. The bell scratch-signed Drury.Diam. 116 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3 - 6
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 4 - 8 - 25 - 01

Notes

Daniel De St. Leu This very fine maker succeeded Rivers & Son to the post of maker to the Queen in 1765. It is easy to see why Queen Charlotte favoured St. Leu?s work as it is always delicately executed and often uses floral motifs. Queen Charlotte and her daughters loved botany and were accomplished botanical artists in their own right. Their influence and the influences of other artists such as Mary Moser would have provided the designs which engravers copied. The floral engraving on the present watch epitomises the late 18th century English taste for crowded mixed flower decoration - an informal yet contrived version of nature. The interest in horology of her husband, King George III, cannot have failed to have had some bearing on the Queen?s own choice of her watch and clockmakers. John Terrill Pain A fine case maker recorded at 67 Shoe Lane in November 1775. In October 1776 he moved to 7 Dean Street, Fetter Lane.