300,000 HKD
BLANCPAIN MINUTE REPEATER NO. 12 PLATINUM Blancpain, Répétition Minutes No. 12. Made in a limited edition of 99 pieces circa 2000. Very fine and rare, minute-repeating, platinum wristwatch with a platinum Blancpain buckle. Three-body, solid, polished, stepped bezel, snap-on transparent case back, sapphire crystals. Off white with applied white gold radial Roman numerals on an outer reserve, subsidiary seconds dial. White gold feuille hands. Notes What is a Minute Repeater? A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the 9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it will count out the hours. Then both hammers will strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes after that quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the fi rst minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2012-10-19
