85,100 CHF
Auguste Huguenin & Fils, le Locle, No. 14273, circa 1876. Very fine and unique, 18K gold hunting-cased pocket chronometer with one minute tourbillon regulator, pevoted detent choronometer escapement and 30-hour power reserve indication. Made as an exhibition piece for the 1876 Philadelphia Universal Centennial Exhibition. Five-body, massive, by J. Broockhimer, the front cover engraved with the United States pavilion of the Centennial Exhibitionsurmounted by the American flag, borders and band engraved with scrolling foliage, gold, glazed cuvette. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds and up-and-down scale. Blued “fleur-de-lys” hands. Notes This is a very unusual tourbillon. Exceptionally well finished, it has all the features of a superior timekeeper from the period: superbly finished tourbillon carriage, superior chronometer escapement, free-sprung helical balance spring, reversed fusee to equalize the torque on the escapement without excessive wear on the center wheel bushing (not to be confused with inverse fusee). The finish is superior, including even the smallest details, such as the double click on the ratchet wheel, or the Maltese cross on the fusee, the use of gold for the wheel train, and nickel not only for the plates but also for the fusee and the barrel, the jeweled barrel, the skeletonized fusee/barrel bridge, and the recessed balance arm. All these elements clearly point to an exhibition piece. Another unusual feat
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
