42,000 CHF
Pivoted Detent Chronometer Grande & Petite Sonnerie Quarter-Repeating Clockwatch Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux-de-Fonds, “Chronomètre Répétition Petite et Grande Sonnerie”, No. 27168. Made circa 1870. Extremely fine and important, 18K rose gold, keyless, two train, grande and petite sonnerie, trip quarter-repeating clockwatch with pivoted detent chronometer escapement. Four body, "bassine et filets", polished. Hinged gold cuvette engraved with the technical details and with engine turned border. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic fiveminute numerals, subsidiary seconds. Gold Louis XV hands. Notes Any complication, such as a striking train, affects the timekeeping of a watch, so that watches with striking, repeating or chronographs were not usually regarded as precision watches. The present watch is extremely rare because it has a detent chronometer escapement combined with grande and petite sonnerie striking and quarter-repeating. The use of the chronometer escapement shows that Girard-Perregaux intended this watch to be a precision timekeeper and as such a great deal of skill would have been needed to make the movement and to incorporate all the functions, yet retain the timekeeping capabilities. In Grande Sonnerie Striking, both the hours and the quarters are struck at each quarter. In Petite Sonnerie Striking, "ting-tang" quarters are struck at the quarters, but the hour is struck only at the hour.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2009-11-14
