Hong Kong, May 29, 2022
LOT 386
Perret & Berthoud
Pocket watch, Westminster carillon minute-repeater, four hammers on four gongs; 18K pink gold
HKD 278,000 - 436,000
EUR 33,400 - 53,000 / CHF 35,000 - 55,000 / USD 35,300 - 56,000
Sold: HKD 350,000
18K pink gold, hunting-case, keyless-winding, round-shaped, large pocket watch, with subsidiary seconds at 6 and one horological complication:
· Minute-repeater with Westminster chime on four steel gongs by four hammers (activated by the slide at 6 o’clock)
Cover and case-back polished.
Movement 20’’’, gilded brass, going barrel, gold screwed-chaton (setting) on the central wheel, straight-line equilibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel hairspring with terminal curve, polished steel index-regulator; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial, with silent centrifugal force governor to regulate the speed of the repetition mechanism.
Cover and case-back polished.
Movement 20’’’, gilded brass, going barrel, gold screwed-chaton (setting) on the central wheel, straight-line equilibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel hairspring with terminal curve, polished steel index-regulator; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial, with silent centrifugal force governor to regulate the speed of the repetition mechanism.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 2* |
Very good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Brand Perret & Berthoud, Le Locle
Model made by Constant Piguet, Le Sentier (Vallée de Joux) and Le Locle
Year circa 1900-1910
Movement No. 3 208 (and No. 17)
Case No. 29 779
Material 18K pink gold
Diameter 56.5 mm.
Caliber 20’’’, straight-line equilibrated lever escapement
Weight 137.2 gr. (approx.)
Signature dial and cuvette (dome)
Accessories copy of the invention patent
Notes
Movement based on the Swiss invention patent No. 11 948, delivered on March 20, 1896, to Constant Piguet, Le Sentier (Vallée de Joux), for a “Montre à répétition-carillon à quatre marteaux” (Repeater-watch with four-hammer chime).
--
Piguet, Constant
Constant Piguet is the son of David-Constant Piguet (1820-?), watchmaker at the Sentier (Vallée de Joux), and Zélie-Henriette Reymond (1827-1857); both married in 1851. The couple to at least one other son: Jules-Albert Piguet (1854-1934).
David-Constant Piguet founds a watchmaking workshop in the Vallée de Joux which will be taken over by his two sons. The company is particularly renowned for its repeating watches.
Circa 1880, Jules-Albert Piguet moved the familial workshops to Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel mountains.
In 1881, the company receives for its products a Second Prize at the National Horological Exhibition of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet, a resident of Le Sentier, obtained a patent, No. 11 948, for his mechanism of “Montre à répétition-carillon à quatre marteaux” (Repeater-watch with four-hammer chime).
To produce his watches, he uses minute repeater blanks from LeCoultre & Cie (today Jaeger-LeCoultre) of Le Sentier. Inside the factory, these drafts are referenced under the name “19-CMS No 42”. According to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Heritage Archives, only a small quantity of these ebauches are delivered to Constant Piguet.
The latter to get his carillon watches on four gongs (classical or Westminster) is brought to modify the timing as shown by his patent.
Since 1888, Constant Piguet and Paul-David Nardin, from Ulysse Nardin, Le Locle, have collaborated on experimental studies on the use of clocks in a platinum-iridium alloy.
Circa 1907, Jules-Albert Piguet sold the company to head of workshop Charles-Emile Jeanneret-dit-Grosjean (1861-1953).
In 1922, the company was renamed Jeanneret-Grosjean Charles-Emile & Fils, “Fabricants de ressorts de répétition” (Manufacturers of gongs-springs).
Watches with carillon-chime by four hammers on four gongs are extremely rare, especially if they are of the Westminster-type. It also exists with the air of God Save the King, which was also at that time that of the Swiss national anthem.
Only two other watchmakers – Edouard Jean-Richard (1867-1944) from Le Locle, and Victorin Piguet (1850-1937) from the Vallée de Joux – have specialised in the production of this type of watch.
--
Piguet, Constant
Constant Piguet is the son of David-Constant Piguet (1820-?), watchmaker at the Sentier (Vallée de Joux), and Zélie-Henriette Reymond (1827-1857); both married in 1851. The couple to at least one other son: Jules-Albert Piguet (1854-1934).
David-Constant Piguet founds a watchmaking workshop in the Vallée de Joux which will be taken over by his two sons. The company is particularly renowned for its repeating watches.
Circa 1880, Jules-Albert Piguet moved the familial workshops to Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel mountains.
In 1881, the company receives for its products a Second Prize at the National Horological Exhibition of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet, a resident of Le Sentier, obtained a patent, No. 11 948, for his mechanism of “Montre à répétition-carillon à quatre marteaux” (Repeater-watch with four-hammer chime).
To produce his watches, he uses minute repeater blanks from LeCoultre & Cie (today Jaeger-LeCoultre) of Le Sentier. Inside the factory, these drafts are referenced under the name “19-CMS No 42”. According to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Heritage Archives, only a small quantity of these ebauches are delivered to Constant Piguet.
The latter to get his carillon watches on four gongs (classical or Westminster) is brought to modify the timing as shown by his patent.
Since 1888, Constant Piguet and Paul-David Nardin, from Ulysse Nardin, Le Locle, have collaborated on experimental studies on the use of clocks in a platinum-iridium alloy.
Circa 1907, Jules-Albert Piguet sold the company to head of workshop Charles-Emile Jeanneret-dit-Grosjean (1861-1953).
In 1922, the company was renamed Jeanneret-Grosjean Charles-Emile & Fils, “Fabricants de ressorts de répétition” (Manufacturers of gongs-springs).
Watches with carillon-chime by four hammers on four gongs are extremely rare, especially if they are of the Westminster-type. It also exists with the air of God Save the King, which was also at that time that of the Swiss national anthem.
Only two other watchmakers – Edouard Jean-Richard (1867-1944) from Le Locle, and Victorin Piguet (1850-1937) from the Vallée de Joux – have specialised in the production of this type of watch.
Bibliography
· Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, 1896-1897, p. 325.
--
Westminster Chimes
The Westminster chimes are more correctly called the Cambridge Chimes. They first appeared in 1793 at St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge. They were written by Rev Dr. Joseph Jowett and Dr. John Randall, working with undergraduate William Crotch (later first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music) and were adopted by Lord Grimthorpe, designer of the great “Big Ben” clock for the Palace of Westminster. The chimes are based on four notes from Handel’s Messiah and are known locally in Cambridge as “Jowett’s Jig”.
--
Perret & Berthoud, Le Locle
Company founded in Le Locle by Ulysse-Georges Perret and Louis-Edouard Berthoud.
In 1894, Perret opened a watchmaking workshop and business in Le Locle with Numa-Emile Descombes. This collaboration lasted only a few years following the premature death of Descombes in 1897 at the age of 34.
Perret then hired Louis-Edouard Berthoud, a specialist in watches with horological complications.
For a short time they signed their watches Perret & Berthoud in Le Locle before moving to Geneva where they set up under the name Universal Watch Co., thus was born this legendary name of 20th century Swiss watchmaking.
--