Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Monaco, Jul 21, 2021
LOT 200
Unsigned
Skeleton dress-watch; 18K yellow gold and diamonds
Skeleton dress-watch; 18K yellow gold and diamonds
EUR 4,000 - 6,000
USD 4,800 - 7,200 / HKD 36,900 - 56,000
Sold: EUR 6,240
18K yellow gold and diamond-set, open-face, keyless-winding, round-shaped, skeleton dress-watch.
Movement fully skeletonized and engraved in taille-douce (fine-cut) with scrolls and foliage.
Movement fully skeletonized and engraved in taille-douce (fine-cut) with scrolls and foliage.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 2* |
Very good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Brand Unsigned, Switzerland
Year circa 1980
Movement No. 8 106 or 9 018
Diameter 41 mm
Caliber 16’’’, straight-line lever escapement
Weight 24.9 gr. (approx.)
Notes
Skeleton watches have been around for a long time, allowing the amateur to discover the mysteries of the art of watchmaking. They experienced a revival of interest during the Art Deco period, then in the 1980s with the resurgence of mechanical horology after the quartz crisis of the 1970s.
Personalities such as Vincent Calabrese (b.1944) – to whom we owe in 1977 the rectilinear movement, known as the “Golden Bridge In-Line”, where all the wheels and pinions are arranged in a straight line (an invention sold to Corum, which then improved it, patented it and officially launched it in 1980) – or the Claude Meylan House in the Abbaye, Vallée de Joux, founded in 1983, or Kurt Schaffo in Le Locle, have made a speciality of producing skeleton pieces, both pocket and wristwatch, sometimes with self-winding or with horological complications.
--
*a 20% import VAT is due on the hammer price with buyer's premium, plus 150€ for termination of temporary export, at buyer's expense, only if it is delivered within the EU