52,900 CHF
Breguet, Swiss, probably by Pierre Simon Gounouilhou, circa 1810. "La Cuisine" Very fine and rare 18K gold and enamel double face watch with an automaton scene. Double body, Directoire, polished with glazed back. White enamel with Breguet numerals. Blued steel fancy Breguet hands. Magnificent varicoloured gold automaton scene applied over a painted ground depicting a kitchen: sitting by the mantlepiece is an old lady grinding herbs with pester and mortar, while a chicken on a spit is roasting in front of a roaring fire; the spit is driven by a small dog running in a playing wheel linked to the spit by a chain; another clog on the foreground is playing with a squirrel. Gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring. Independent movement with going barrel, driving the automata by means of cams and levers. Signed on the dial. In very good condition. Diam. 59 mm. Notes A similar watch by Gounouilhou is illustrated by P. Jaquct and A. Chapuis in Hastons' at Teehnigue de La Monti(' .Suisse, 1945, pl. 102. In their book Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928, another watch of this type is illustrated p. 87, A. Chapuis and P. Gelis indicate that only three were known by that time. Among all the elaborated automaton scenes to he found on watches produced in Geneva, "The Kitchen " is also one of the most thought after by collectors and greatly contributed to the fame of Gounouilhou.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1997-04-12
