60,000 CHF
Four Hammer Carillon Constant Piguet, Sentier, No. 3378, Swiss patent No. 11948. Made circa 1915. Very fine and extremely rare, slim, carillon minute repeating 18K yellow gold hunting-cased pocket watch. Four-body, “bassine”, polished. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blackened Breguet hands. 43 mm (19’’’), frosted gilt, bar calibre, 28 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating the hours, quarter hours and minutes with four hammers on four gongs activated by a slide in the band. Diam. 54 mm. Notes Carillon minute repeating watches are very rare; only a few are known with four hammers or Westminster chimes. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented a system of minute-repeat with carillon under the No. 11948 .Makers specializing in this type of watch were Constant Piguet, Eduard JeanRichard, and Victorin Piguet. The known tunes played by four-hammer carillons are: Westminster chimes, the Swiss National anthem, and God Save the King. A watch playing God Save the King was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, on November 11, 2006, lot 53. Similar watches were sold by Antiquorum, Exceptional Horological Works of Art, Geneva, October 19, 2002, lot 8; and Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Hong Kong, July 10, 2005, lot 83; Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks,
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2008-03-16
