18,400 CHF
Unsigned, Swiss, circa 1795. Very fine and rare 18K gold quarter-repeating automaton watch with Jacks striking the hours and quarters on two bells. Double-body, "Directoire", polished, a coat of arms engraved on the back. White enamel, small, eccentric with Breguet numerals. Gold hands. The four-colored gold automaton scene, applied on a blue enamel ground, shows Jacks representing Chronos and his wife Rhea striking the hours and quarters, flanked on each side of two bells below the dial. Hinged gilt brass full plate with conical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain gold three-arm balance, flat balance-spring, gilt bras continental cock with polished end-piece. Striking on two bells by depressing the pendant. Hinged gilt brass dust cap.Diam. 61 mm. Notes In most repeating automaton watches, the hours and quarters are struck by hammers on gongs. In this watch, however, the automata actually hit the bells with the hammers they hold.Bells were commonly used in such watches until the Genevese watchmaker François Crespe had the idea, in 1792, of replacing them by gongs in repetition watches. Crespe was the author of an "Essai sur les montres à répétition" in 1804.Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois, by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998This watch is published in the Ruscitti book, as no. 57.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-10-13
