Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, May 14, 2017

LOT 226

"ALLEGORY OF WINTER" Piguet Meylan, Geneva, No. 5974, the case by Frères Oltramare ,made for the Chinese Market, circa 1820. Extremely fine and very rare, 18K gold and painted on enamel, pearl-set, center seconds,quarter repeating pocket watch,the enamel by Jean Abraham Lissignol (1749-1819).

CHF 60,000 - 80,000

HKD 480,000 - 560,000 / USD 60,000 - 80,000

Sold: CHF 173,000

Four-body, "Empire", the back with a very finely painted on enamel portrait of a young lady in a red dress, pink scarf, blue headdress,split pearl-set border, the outer border decorated with translucent guilloche red enamel ,the band, pendant and bow decorated to match, the bezels set with split pearls Hinged gold cuvette decorated with light blue and dack blue champlevé enamel foliage, apertures for hand-setting and winding going train. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions and Arabic quarter-hour numerals. Blued-steel 'serpent' hands. 46 mm., frosted gilt, full plate, profusely chased and engraved with flowers and foliage in the Chinese taste, going barrel, cylinder escapement, three-arm gold balance with polished steel endplate, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant. Case punched with the casemaker's mark "FO", movement punched with Piguet & Meylan's mark "PM" on the dial plate.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

DIAM. 56 mm. The present lot was previously sold by Sotheby on November 13, 1967. Piguet & Meylan. Both originally from the village of Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841) and Philippe Samuel Meylan (1772-1845) came to Geneva as young men, and formed a partnership which lasted from 1811 to 1828. The company specialized in elaborate and beautifully decorated musical watches, including skeleton and automaton watches, and mechanical animals. The firm was established at 45, rue Jean Jacques Rousseau in Geneva. After their association came to an end, both Piguet and Meylan continued for some time to work with their sons. A watch from this series "Winter", No. 6170, is in the Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva. A similar watch from the same series is in the Rolex Wilsdorf Collection (Pl. 41 in the book "Montres et Emaux de Genève"). Jean Abraham Lissignol. Born in Geneva on May 1749, died in Plainpalais on June 28, 1819. One of the best enamel painters of the later part of the eighteenth century, he was the pupil of Jean-Marc Roux and later became his partner. He specialized in decorating enameled snuffboxes and watch cases, working for Jaquet-Droz, Leschot, the Rochat brothers, and John Rich. Frères Oltramare Working in Geneva between 1810/11 and 1826. "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois", Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998 It appears that Piguet & Meylan made two series of watches with portraits of ladies, one depicting "The Four Seasons" ("La Montre Chinoise", Alfred Chapuis and Gustave Loup, p. 72), and the other ladies in various modes of dress. Another from the same series is in the Rolex Wilsdorf Collection (Pl. 41 in the book "Montres et Emaux de Genève"). Both series are clearly painted by the same artist. A similar portrait decorates the watch sold by Antiquorum on October 11, 2003, lot 120, also June 20, 1998, lot 474. A very similar watch, No. 6016, but with the image reversed, is in The Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva. Jean Abraham Lissignol. Born in Geneva on May 1749, died in Plainpalais on June 28, 1819. One of the best enamel painters of the later part of the eighteenth century, he was the pupil of Jean-Marc Roux and later became his partner. He specialized in decorating enameled snuffboxes and watch cases, working for Jaquet-Droz, Leschot, the Rochat brothers, and John Rich. Frères Oltramare Working in Geneva between 1810/11 and 1826. "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois", Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998