Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, Nov 08, 2014

LOT 748

LOUIS AUDEMARS "38 MM" ONE OF THE SMALLEST POCKET WATCHES WITH PERPETUAL CALENDAR EVER MADE RETAILED BY BREGUET Louis Audemars, Brassus, No. 12158, retailed by Breguet as No. 4269. Made in 1873, sold by Breguet on December 29th, 1885 to Mir et Cottereau for 2500 Francs. Exceptional, important and very small, quarter-repeating, 18K yellow gold hunting cased keyless pocket watch with perpetual calendar and moon phases, 13 ligne movement - one of the smallest known pocket watches with perpetual calendar.

CHF 20,000 - 30,000

HKD 172,000 - 258,000 / USD 21,000 - 32,000

Sold: CHF 47,500

Four-body, "bassine et filets", engine-turned with polished borders and band, correctors protruding from the bezel. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track with Arabic five-minute numerals, four subsidiary sunk dials for days of the week, date, months with leap-year cycle and subsidiary seconds concentric with phases of the moon aperture. Blued steel spade hands. 30 mm.(13"'), frosted gilt, 32 jewels, wolf's tooth winding, straight line Audemars lever escapement with shepherd's crook counterpoise, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-70-01

Very good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairline

HANDS Original

Notes

Dial numbered on the counter enamel, reverse of the moon disc scratch signed "Ls- Audemars, Brassus (Suisse), No. 12158", case with Louis Audemars punch marks and numbered, cuvette signed "Breguet No. 4269". DIAM. 38 mm. The present watch can be considered exceptional as one of, if not the smallest pocket watch ever made with perpetual calendar and repeating. In the archives of Louis Audemars this watch is recorded as being made in 1873 and then sold to Breguet in Paris who further signed the cuvette and issued their own number 4269 additionally. The Breguet archives then confirm that the watch was sold to Mir et Cottereau on December 29th, 1885 for 2500 Francs. The desire to miniaturize timepieces is an ideal inherent to the watchmaker's art. The present watch must represent what was an unparalleled accomplishment at its time of manufacture. Much smaller watches are known to exist, however one of 13''' with perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and repetition would have been unheard-of. The firm of Louis Audemars was well known for their ability to create movements of great complexity; this watch is an extraordinary example of their art combining complexity and miniaturization and would have surely been the smallest watch of its type in 1873. No other 13''' or smaller watches with the same complications are known to have been manufactured until the 1930s. See: "Louis-Benjamin Audemars", Hartmut Zantke, 2003, p. 180 & 335.