16,100 CHF
Blondel & Melly, Genève, No 16634, circa 1840. Very fine and rare, 18 ct. gold and enamel miniature watch, with original fitted tortoiseshell box, ratchet key and short chain. Matted silver, champlevé Roman chapters, outer minute divisions. Blued-steel Breguet hands. 13.5 mm o, weight 1,5 grams (including dial and hands), gilt brass bar calibre, 12 jewels, cylinder escapement, gold three-arm balance wheel, flat blued-steel balance spring.Signed on the cuvette.Diam. 16 mm. Published in the Sandberg book, pages 188-189. Notes Blondel Lot Melly, 15 Quai des Bergues, Geneva, 1820 - 1850Makers of very fine watches, they specialised in very thin and small watches, as well as examples decorated with fine enamel, pearls and precious stones, and complicated watches.'Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois', by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998.Another miniature of their making is illustrated in 'Technique and History of the Swiss Watch' by Eugène Jaquet and Alfred Chapuis, plate XX.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-03-31
