1,103,500 CHF
Vacheron & Constantin, Genève, No. 408710, case No. 254197, made in 1914, sold in 1928. Exceptionally fine, highly important and unique large 18K gold hunting-cased, keyless, specially adjusted astronomical minute-repeating carillon watch, with Guillaume balance, triple train, split-seconds chronograph, 30-minute register, perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and alarm. Accompanied by numerous factory documents. Five-body, massive, “bassine”, polished with reeded bezel edges, gold hinged cuvette. Matte silver, No. 254/97, upright black champlevé Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, outermost chronograph track divided into fifths with five-minute/seconds Arabic markers, four subsidiary sunk dials for phases of the moon aperture with gold and enamel moon disc concentric with minute register, months of the four-year leap cycle, date concentric with subsidiary seconds, and days of the week. Blued steel Breguet hands, gold alarm hand. Notes This remarkable watch has 76 wheels and pinions, 41 bridges and plates, 305 screws, 70 springs, 107 other pieces and 11 hands, a total of 657 parts in all! It is ultra-complicated as well as being a precision watch. The alarm feature is very rarely found in complicated watches. Vacheron Constantin made only two of them, each one unique, this one and No. 415810, which has different complications (see Antiquorum, The Art of Vacheron Constantin, Lot 111). To our knowledge, during the end of the 19th century and the first quarter of the
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
