Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Hong Kong, Oct 27, 2019
LOT 405
LOUIS AUDEMARS POCKET WATCH WITH QUARTER-REPEATER, DEAD INDEPENDENT SECONDS, PERPETUAL CALEN- DAR WITH LEAP-YEARS INDICATION AND MOON PHASES; 18K YELLOW GOLD
HKD 240,000 - 300,000
CHF 30,000 - 37,500 / USD 30,200 - 37,750
Sold: HKD 275,000
18K yellow gold, hunting-case, keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, with nine horological complications: • Quarter-repeater on two steel gongs (activated by the slide at 6 o’clock) • Dead independent seconds (exterior graduation with central hand; activated by the rectangular push-piece located on the border of the case, at 12 o’clock) • Two barrels with differential gears and bidirectional-winding inspired by Sylvain Mairet’s (1805-1890) works (1850 / 1855) • Half-instantaneous perpetual calendar • Date of the month (subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock) • Day of the week (subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock; indications given in French) • Month of the year (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock; indications given in French) • Four-year cycle of leap-years (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock; indications given in German) • Age and phases of the moon (subsidiary dial, graduated from 0 to 29 1/2, and aperture at 9 o’clock) Cover and case-back guilloché engine-turned.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand Louis Audemars, Le Brassus (Vallée de Joux)
Year Circa 1869-1872
Movement No. 11 167
Calibre 19’’’, lever escapement
Case No. 11 167
Diameter 55.1 mm.
Signature Dial, Case and Movement
Notes
At the time of its creation, this type of watch with horological complications represents the pinnacle of production because it’s only circa 1873- 1875 that we will build watches with minute-repeater and chronograph. The Louis Audemars house in Le Brassus (Vallée de Joux), founded in 1811 by Louis-Benjamin Audemars (1782-1833), is one of the specialists.
Only, are even more complicated the pieces made on an exceptional basis, as those built for the industrial, national or universal exhibitions by this house which also supplies its colleagues: Breguet, Oudin and Le Roy (who will become L. Leroy & Co.) in Paris; Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin in Geneva; etc.
Later, other exceptional watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux are also specialized in this type of production: Louis-Elisée Piguet (1836-1924), Ami LeCoultre (1843-1921), Léon-Ernest Aubert (1845-1921) 1920), Victorin Piguet (1850-1937), etc.