8,050 CHF
De Belle a Paris No. 4174, circa 1790. Very fine 18K gold calendar watch with decorated dial. Double body, Directoire, polished. White enamel with Breguet numerals, "star " minutes division, the centre painted with an obelisk surmounted by globe and flanked by two subsidiary dials for dates and days of the week within blue oval frames supported by short columns. Gold "cathedrales " hands. Hinged gilt-brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, gilt-brass continental cock with polished-steel end-piece. Signed on the back plate. Diam. 57 mm. Notes De Belle, rue Saint Honore at the corner of rue de l'Arbre-Sec. Eminent maker, together with Mathieu 1'Aine, Lepaute, Antide Janvier, Charles, Lagrange, Lepine le Jenne and Ferdinand Berthoud, was member of the Jury appointed by the Convention National for the contest organised to find the hest way to produce Decimal watches and clocks or to transform watches and clocks still in existence.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1998-04-18
