Only Online Auction
Geneva, Dec 08, 2022
LOT 372
Unsigned
Pocket watch, centre-seconds, special escapement, made for the Chinese market; gilded metal, enamel and pearls
CHF 1,500 - 3,000
EUR 1,550 - 3,100 / USD 1,600 - 3,200 / HKD 12,500 - 24,900
Sold: CHF 4,000
Gilded metal, enamel and pearl-set, open-face, key-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, with centre-seconds and special escapement, made for the Chinese market.
Polychrome painting case-back showing a bunch of multicoloured summer flowers and leaves on a blue background; the painting on enamel on metal by an unidentified workshop; fluted case-band; bezel, pendant and bow set with half-pearls.
White enamel dial, with radial Roman numerals; blued steel “Pear” hands.
Movement 19’’’, gilded brass, engraved Chinese-style, going barrel, duplex-Jacot escapement, uncut monometallic balance with screwed blued-steel wings and blued steel flat hairspring, polished steel index-regulator.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: A |
Good |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-75-01 |
Good ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Slightly restored soft enamel HANDS Original |
Brand Unsigned, probably Fleurier (Val-de-Travers)
Model made for the Chinese market
Year circa 1860-1880
Movement No. unnumbered
Case No. 1 304 (partly illegible)
Material gilded metal, enamel and pearls
Diameter 50.5 mm.
Caliber 19’’’, engraved Chinese-style, duplex-Jacot escapement
Weight 94.4 gr. (approx.)
Accessories later brass winding-keys
Notes
Duplex-Jacot Escapement
During the last quarter of the 18th century, several watchmakers tried to produce watches with dead centre-seconds hands, much in favour among the scientific community. The first attempt, made in Geneva by Jean-Moïse Pouzait (1743-1793), circa 1786, featured a lever escapement associated with a large seconds-beating balance (the model of this escapement was presented to the local Société des Arts).
Due to its spectacular aspect, and in spite if its inertia sensitivity Pouzait’s escapement was much appreciated by the Chinese before the invention by Charles-Edouard Jacot (1817-1897), a watchmaker from La Chaux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel mountains), circa 1840-1850, of the so-called duplex-Jacot or “Chinese duplex” escapement, with double-tooth arrangement. The Jacot escapement, like any duplex escapement, is a frictional one the friction from the escape wheel is constantly present. Enabled inexpensive production of dead centre-second watches it was often used in the watches made for the Chinese market.
--
Jacot, Charles Edouard (1817-1897), La Chaux de Fonds
Charles Edouard Jacot (1817-1897) worked in La Chaux de Fonds, Le Locle, Baltimore and New York. He was a prolific inventor and innovator, especially of escapement work. At the age of 19 he visited his cousin, the son of Abraham Perrelet, in Le Locle and became involved with watchmaking. In 1837, he went to New York City, where he was to stay for 20 years. Jacot invented a modification of the duplex escapement with a dead centre-seconds hand, known as the “duplex-Jacot”, used extensively in watches made for the Chinese market (US invention Patent No. 9 150, dated July 27, 1852). While in America, he registered twelve American patents for perfecting the construction of watches, including the “star wheel duplex” escapement, patented on July 20, 1852, and a stop-watch feature, patented on June 8, 1858, by which time Jacot had already returned to Switzerland.
There he founded the Jacot & Salzmann firm in La Chaux-de-Fonds. By the 1870’s his firm was called Charles E. Jacot. One of the founders of the Société inter-cantonale des industries du Jura (Intercantonal Societies of Jurassian Industries) along with Longines. Charles Jacot died in August 1897.
CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION FOR BUYERS.
The purchase price payable by a buyer will be the sum of the final bid price plus the buyer’s premium, together with any applicable sales or compensating use tax. In addition to the hammer price, the buyer’s premium is payable as follows: 26% of the hammer price on each lot.
Please look carefully at all the photos as they are an integral part of the description. Any defect not mentioned in the descriptions but visible on the photos will be considered as described and cannot lead to any claim. The dimensions are given as an indication and may slightly differ from the measures mentioned by the manufacturers especially for contemporary watches. The photos are not retouched. Colors may differ from reality. For timepieces, we guarantee neither the functioning nor the precision of the movement, nor the water-resistance of the case. In addition, please note that movements, parts of mechanisms or cases may be incomplete.
The lots are sold “as is”, described to the best of our knowledge and cannot be returned. Once the online bid is placed by the bidder, it cannot be cancelled.