168,500 CHF
The Theater Henry Capt a Genève, No. 309, circa 1815. Highly important and exceptionally rare 18K gold and enamel double-face, triple-train, musical double automaton quarter-repeating watch with provision for à tact repeating and concealed erotic automaton scene. White enamel, Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, winding apertures for going and musical/automaton trains. Gold "arrowhead" hands. Notes The "Theater" is one of the rarest of automaton watches. Only seven are known:1. One formerly in the Gélis Collection 2. One in the Sandoz Collection, formerly in the Loup Collection 3. One formerly in the Salomons Collection 4. One signed Louis Duchêne et Fils, sold at Antiquorum, April 21, 1996, lot No. 258. 5. One featured in Antiquorum's auction "The Art of Horology in Geneva", November 13-14, 1999, lot No. 74. 6. One by Du Bois et Fils, in a private German Collection. 7. One sold by Antiquorum, April 13, 2002, lot 65. 8. The present watch, by Henry Capt. All of the above-listed watches, with the exception of the first and the last, utilize similar ebauches, and feature a similar manner of fixing the movement to the case, which strongly suggests that they were made by the same maker. Only three of them are signed, one by Duchêne et Fils of Geneva, the other by Du Bois et Fils of Le Locle,and this one by Capt. Four of them (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7) were made for the Chinese market, which would explain why they are not signed.This piece represents one of the earliest a
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-11-16
