$112,500
International Watch Co. , Schaffhausen, "Grande Complication", No. 18/ 50, Ref. 3770. Produced in a limited edition of 50 examples in 1993.Very fine and extremely rare, oversized, astronomic, minute-repeating, self-winding, platinum gentleman's wristwatch with 44 hours autonomy, square button chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, moon phases and a platinum IWC buckle. Notes International Watch Co., SchaffhausenIn the 1870's, American-born Florentine Ariosto Jones, who had been appointed director of the E. Howard & Co. watchmaking factory in Boston at the early age of 27, decided to manufacture high-quality movements and watch parts for the American market using American technology and skilled labor from Switzerland, where wages were comparatively low. However, the skilled workers in the Geneva region and in the remote valleys of the Jura mountains resisted the plans of a man they considered an intrude, and it was not until Jones teamed up with Johann Heinrich Moser from Schaffhausen that his plan could be realized. Moser had built a hydrostation in Schaffhausen, powered by water from the Rhine, which generated low-cost energy.In 1868, Jones settled on the banks of the Rhine, creating the International Watch Company. Schaffhausen had long been a watchmaking town, with a clockmaker's guild existing there since 1583. The town was also home to the famous Habrecht family of clockmakers, who built the impressive astronomical clock for the Strasburg cathedral. Howeve Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-03-19
