244,500 CHF
“The Blessing of David” Piguet & Meylan, Genève, No. 1546. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1820. Extremely fine and very rare, musical, quarter-repeating, 18K gold, painted on enamel and pearl-set pocket watch with center seconds, playing music on the hour or at will. Four-body, “Empire”, No. 1483, the bezels, pendant and bow decorated with translucent red, opaque pale blue and pale green “champlevé” enamel with foliate motifs, set with alternate sized split-pearls, the band decorated to match, the back set with a finely painted on enamel panel depicting the blessing of David. Gold cuvette decorated with opaque pale green and translucent red enamel and gold foliage, apertures for the hand setting, going and musical trains. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and concentric dot seconds divisions, Arabic 15-second numerals. Blued steel “lozenge” hands. 47 mm., gilt, foliate chased and engraved in the Chinese taste, standing barrels for the going and musical trains, cylinder escapement, three-arm gold balance with polished steel endplate, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant, sur plateau musical movement with 23 tuned blued steel teeth playing on both sides of the pinned disc, silence lever protruding from the edge of the cuvette, bolt to activate the music on the band. Dial signed on the reverse in Chinese characters, case stamped with the casemaker’s mark “I.E”. Diam. 57 mm. Prop
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2006-11-12
