Exceptional Horological Sale Celebrat...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Geneva, Apr 24, 2004

LOT 256

Vacheron & Constantin, Genève, No. 444889, case No. 279516, made for the Wehrmacht, in 1937. Very fine and rare silver, keyless large deck and pocket chronometer with 32-hour power reserve indicator. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 8,000 - 10,000

EUR 5,000 - 6,300 / USD 6,000 - 7,800

Sold: CHF 28,750

C. Four-body, "bassine", polished, silver, hinged cuvette.D. Silver, champlevé Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, up-and-down sector at 12 o?clock, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel "spade" hands.M. 47.4 mm (21'''), Cal. 162, rhodium plated, "fausses-côtes" decoration, 20 jewels, straight line lever escapement, anibal-brass Guillaume balance with special alloy Breguet balance spring, "swan-neck" micrometric regulator.Signed on dial, case and movement, back of the case engraved with Wehrmacht eagle and numberM. 9481. Diam. 60 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good

Case: 3 - 14
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

Anibal (acier au nickel pour balanciers), an alloy invented by Dr. Charles Edouard Guillaume, exhibits unusual properties, both in terms of thermal expansion and in changes in elasticity. These properties are very different from those of the two other famous alloys invented by Guillaume, Invar and Elinvar. Around 1900 Guillaume attempted to eliminate the so-called Middle Temperature Error caused by the fact that the change of rate in a timekeeper with a steel-brass bimetallic balance is approximately a linear function of temperature, while the change of rate caused by change in elasticity of a balance spring is approximately a quadratic function. Thus, it equals zero at only two temperatures, causing secondary error. Countless attempts were made to eliminate Middle Temperature Error, usually by means of auxiliary compensation devices. In 1899, Guillaume noticed that steel with an addition of 44.4% nickel had a negative square coefficient of thermal expansion. This alloy, combined with rass in bimetallic lamina, makes its expansion close to quadratic. Balances with bimetallic rims made of anibal and brass are usually called Guillaume balances, or, as their inventor called them, integral balances. When combined with special balance springs, they exhibit remarkable temperature stability, on occasion not exceeding 1/50 second per day at 1oC.