$198,000
Vacheron Constantin Minute Repeater Ref. 4261 Vacheron & Constantin, Geneve, No. 439402, case No. 276211, completed and sold in 1943. Extremely fine and rare, slim, elegant, minute-repeating, 18K pink gold wristwatch with three-tone pink dial and tear-drop lugs. Three body, solid, polished and brushed, stepped bezel, inset repeat slide to the band, teardrop lugs. Three-tone pink with applied pink gold baton indexes and Roman quarter-hour numerals. Pink gold baton hands. Notes Production of Vacheron Constantin minute repeating wristwatches: 38 examples in total, in pink, yellow, white gold and platinum : -17 examples in 1942 - 9 examples in 1944 - 12 examples in 1951. This outstanding wristwatch was developped by Vacheron Constantin and Dubois-Dépraz. Collectors and professionals worldwide consider this model the most beautiful minute repeating wristwatch made in the last 50 years. What is a Minute Repeater? A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case activates two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs in the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of a lower tonality to count out the hours. Then both hammers strike both gongs alternately to count out the quarter hours after the hour, and the second hammer alone strikes a higher-toned gong to count out the minutes after the quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he patented a mechanism to sound the hours and qua
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2009-12-09
