18,000 HKD
E(dward) J(ohn) Dent, Watchmaker to the Queen, London, No. 10901/10899, the movement supplied by Adolphe Nicole & Jules Capt, No. 942. Indistinct London hallmarks, made circa 1850. Very fine and thin, hunting cased, 18K gold pocket watch with early Adolphe Nicole patent keyless winding mechanism and duplex escapement. Three-body, “bassine”, by Adolph Nicole (master mark), polished, reeded band. White enamel with narrow painted radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, large subsidiary seconds at IX. Blued steel Breguet hands. 41 mm., 18’’’, frosted gilt three-quarter plate, Adolph Nicole’s patent winding system with coasting, duplex escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, flat blued steel balance spring, the tail held by a polished steel stud screwed to the cock, foliate engraved cock, index regulator. Dial, and movement signed, movement punched AN/JC, 942. Diam. 51 mm. Notes The design for stem-winding used in this watch is Adolph Nicole’s English patent No. 10348 of October 14, 1844. It pre-dates Adrien Philippe’s French Patent of his first winding system by a few months, but Philippe’s system did not require a separate button for the hand setting. Nicole’s patent features a chronograph mechanism and two keyless winding mechanisms, for with fusee and chain and for the mechanism used here. The crown must be rotated clockwise. It can rotate freely when the crown is turned anti-clockwise (coasting) so that the hands may be moved forward when the hand setting is
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2008-06-08
