88,550 CHF
“Grand Prix – Paris 1900” Paul Ditisheim, La Chaux-de-Fonds, No. 29099. The movement especially made for the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. Extremely rare and very fine, early, minute repeating, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch. To be sold without reserve. Three-body, “officier type”, polished, curved bezel, straight lugs, gold screwed bars. White enamel, threepiece with painted Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds dial. Blued steel “Breguet” hands. Notes On the bridge of the repeater main spring is engraved 'Grand Prix, Paris 1900'. The movement of this watch was presented at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900, obtaining a 'Grand Prix'. It is a high-precision movement of great quality. We can consider this piece as one of the oldest minute repeaters ever made for a wristwatch, the second, in fact, after Omega's 1892 minute repeater. The case and dial of the watch date from between 1910 and 1920, probably made on special order for a good client. Paul Ditisheim (1868-1945) was born on October 28th, 1868, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and died in Geneva, on February 7th, 1945. After early training in Switzerland, he studied in Berlin and Paris, arriving in 1891 in England, where he worked as a technician at the Rotherham factory in Coventry. He started his own manufacture at Chaux-de-Fonds in 1892, specializing in very high-precision watches and in complicated watches. Success in both spheres followed rapidly, and he won many
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-10-16
