Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Hong Kong, Oct 27, 2019

LOT 461

RICHARDSON POCKET WATCH WITH CENTRE-SECONDS MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET; GILDED SILVER, ENAMEL AND PEARLS

HKD 120,000 - 200,000

CHF 15,000 - 25,000 / USD 15,300 - 25,500

Gilded silver, enamel and pearl-set, open-face, key-winding, roundshaped, pocket watch, with centre-seconds, made for the Chinese market. Case-back with polychrome painting on enamel, by an unidentified workshop, probably Geneva, showing a young Western woman with a melancholy look, in bust, leaning his head slightly and looking to the right, in the middle of a garland of multicoloured flowers and leaves on a grey background; fluted case-band; bezels, pendant and bow set with half-pearls.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3-77

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Restored soft enamel
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-77-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Restored soft enamel

HANDS Original

Brand Richardson

Year Circa 1860-1880

Movement No. 398

Calibre  21’’’, gilded brass, engraved Chinese-style, with going barrel, duplex escapement, monometallic balance (polished steel) and blued steel flat hairspring

Diameter  55.2 mm

Signature Movement

Accessories Later fitted box (early-20th century, signed J. W. Benson, London)

Notes

It’s extremely rare to find a watch typically made for the Chinese market with such a subject. Few other watches from the same retailer are known: • No. 376 (Ø 58 mm.); • No. 571 (Ø 55 mm.); • No. 772 (Ø 55 mm.); • Unrecorded number (Ø 58 mm.).
Prestige hallmarks British hallmarks were sometimes faked or imitated, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries when English watchmaking enjoyed a reputation as the finest there was. Marks looking like British hallmarks were out into watchcases to lead people to think that a watch was of English make. Sometimes pseudo ‘‘hallmarks’’, marks that were meant to look somewhat like hallmarks without trying to be out-and-out fake hallmarks, were stamped in order to make a case look more impressive.