Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jul 10, 2005

LOT 366

"The New Arrivals" Swiss, the enamel by Hess, Geneva. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1825. Extremely fine and rare, 18K gold and painted on enamel pocket watch.

HKD 550,000 - 700,000

EUR 55,000 - 70,000 / USD 70,000 - 90,000

Sold: HKD 782,000

C. Three-body, the bezel decorated with engraved gold, red and blue enamel, the stem and bow decorated with white, red and turquoiseenamel, hinged and sprung back cover with similarly decorated border, set with a very finely painted on enamel panel decorated withscene of a young couple and a boy holding puppies and with a spaniel on a rose-covered plinth in a river landscape. Hinged and sprunggilt metal cuvette. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals and outer minute ring, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel serpentinehands. M. Frosted gilt, bridge caliber, hanging barrel, cylinder escapement, three-arm brass balance, blued steel flat balance spring,index regulator.Case punched DM and numbered 9620, enamel signed Hess.Diam. 58 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2- 01

Very good

Notes

The present watch is an important discovery and a documentary piece. Little is known about the enamel painter Hess who is recorded at 42, Allemands ? Dessous, Geneva, in 1828. (see the ?Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois?, by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, 1998). His work is of extremely high quality and it is likely that his unsigned work has often been mistaken for the work of Jean-Louis Richter. The present watch also demonstrates the long-established practice of enamellers to construct a composition using elements taken from various prints. The image of the young boy was a particularly popular and appealing subject and the boy is usually depicted holding grapes, in the present watch he is holding puppies which is both unusual and charming. For other enamelled watches decorated with variants of this image see: Antiquorum, The Sandberg Collection, Geneva, March 31, 2001, Lot 47; Antiquorum, Important Collectors Watches, Geneva, April 13, 2002, Lot 607; Antiquorum, Exceptional Horological Sale, Geneva, April 24, 2004, Lot 268.