Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Nov 25, 2006

LOT 117

Pink Gold Grande & Petite Sonnerie ?Gouverneur? Piaget, Swiss, No. 645952. Made in a very small series in 1997. Extremely fine and equally rare, grande and petite sonnerie striking, water-resistant, 18K pink gold two-train wristwatch with minute-repeating, power reserve sector, visible hammers and an 18K pink gold Piaget buckle. Property of an English Collector

HKD 1,200,000 - 1,500,000

USD 150,000 - 200,000 / EUR 120,000 - 150,000

C. Three-body, polished, curved lugs, transparent back, sapphire crystals. D. Black gold ?flinqué? with applied pink gold double dart indexes and Arabic 12, outer minute divisions and Arabic five-minute numerals, subsidiary seconds dial, sector for the power reserve, apertures for strike selection indication and the hammers. Pink gold ?dauphine? hands. M. Cal. 1996P, 13???, rhodium-plated, ?fausses côtes? decoration, two-train, 33 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, flat balance spring, shock absorber, striking on the hours and quarters and repeating on gongs activated by a button at 2 o?clock, grande/petite sonnerie/silence button at 4 o?clock, gongs mounted on the front, strike and repeat work on the back. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 37 mm. Thickness 12 mm. Property of an English Collector


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

The Grande sonnerie striking movement is a challenge for the makers of wristwatches. In 1997 Piaget made a very small number of wristwatches with grande and petite sonnerie striking, including the present watch. These movements were made by the famous watchmaker François-Paul Journe, who like many talented independent watchmakers, worked behind the scenes in the Swiss watchmaking world: providing ideas, expertise and complicated movements to the major brands before establishing his own brand in 1999. One of his projects was to design and build grande and petite sonneries for Piaget. This 13??? movement is the smallest grande sonnerie mechanism ever developed. Originally, ten of these watches were supposed to be made; it is thought, however, that far fewer were actually made. The calibre 1996P is unusual in several ways: The racks rotate at the center of the movement, which doubles the working radius, while maintaining the same working tolerance between the racks and hammers ? as in a pocket watch. The gongs are short and flat and very slim. The striking mechanism and going train has a single setting/winding stem with a three-stage cycle: silence/petite sonnerie; grande sonnerie; going train. This greatly improves water resistance and is easy to use. Grande Sonnerie Automatically strikes the hours and then quarters on the quarter-hour. Petite Sonnerie Automatically strikes the quarters on the quarter-hour. Minute Repeater Repeats the hours, quarters and minutes by depressing a push-piece.