137,500 HKD
RING WATCH WITH MINIATURE WATCH MOVEMENT – ONE OF THE SMALLEST VERGE MOVEMENTS KNOWN J. T. à Paris. Made circa 1770. Very fine and extremely rare, 18K gold ring watch with 13.5 mm verge movement and a paste-set gold key. Accompanied by a gold-tooled red morocco trunk-form fitted box. Circular body with hinged bezel chased with foliage, polished and foliate chased band, glazed back, shank with pierced rococo decoration. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic fi ve-minute numerals, winding aperture between 3 and 4 o’clock. Yellow gold arrow hands. 13.5 mm., hinged, frosted gilt full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance with fl at balance spring, pierced and engraved foliate cock. Movement signed. Diam. 19.5 mm. Notes This ring watch contains one of the smallest watch movements of the 18th century with a diameter of 13.5 mm. Another, by J. Thierry, London, circa 1770, was, until the discovery of the present watch, the smallest verge watch movement known at 14 mm, this watch was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, 11th & 12th April 1992. Miniature watches have always been a challenge for watchmakers, who have vied with one another to produce ever-smaller mechanisms. The earliest known surviving example is a tiny gold and enamel clockwatch by an unknown German maker, circa 1610, which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia and was sold as part of the Harcourt Collection at Sotheby's London in 199
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2012-10-19
