25,300 CHF
Not signed, Suisse, circa 1790. Rare and interesting, 18 ct gold, center seconds, self winding watch presented to the celebrated physician Monge Three body, «Louis XVI» type, polished. GiIt brass cuvette engraved with the dedication: " Chaudron, à son ami Monges". white enamel with Breguet numerals. Gold «croissant» hands and counterpoised gold centre-seconds. Gilt brass, three quarter plate with going barrel, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, gilt brass pierced and engraved balance cock. Pivoted on the border of the back plate, the winding weight oscillates along the side of the back plate with steel banking springs and locking device when the mainspring is fully wound. In very good condition. Diam. 53 mm. Notes This construction, with the winding weight oscillating on the border of the smaller back plate, unables to produce self winding watches much thinner, compared with those with the winding weight oscillating over the back plate. This watch was certainly constructed with a movement coming from the Jaquet Droz workshop, it can be compared with that of the watch signed Jaquet Droz & Leschot, No. 494 of the collection in the M.I.H. of La Chaux-de-Fonds (See Catherine Cardinal L' Horlogerie dans l'Histoire des Arts et des Sciences-Chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée International d'Horlogerie de la Chaux-de-Fonds-Editions Scriptar 1983, pages 56-57). Another watch, signed by Henry Maillardet, London, with an identical movement, was sol
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1994-10-15