43,700 CHF
James Calame-Robert, Chaux-de-Fonds, No. 94209, circa 1870. Extremely rare and fine 18K gold, hunting-cased pocket chronometer with one-minute tourbillon regulator and date. Five-body, massive, engine-turned covers, gold hinged cuvette. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions with five-minute Arabic markers, subsidiary date at 12, sunk subsidiary seconds. Blued-steel “spade” hands. Notes James Calame-Robert The Calame-Robert firm was active from about the middle of the 19th century. Calame-Robert used ebauches of Louis Audemars, Fontaine Melon, and others. James Calame-Robert’s two sons became partners in the firm. One of them, Jules Calame-Colix, was the President of the Society of Watchmakers in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The firm was located at 4 rue du Parc; later the sons built a factory at No. 2 of the same street. Paul Ditisheim’s brother bought the company when they retired, probably in 1925, later selling the company to J.C. Breitmeyer. Paul Ditisheim, writing to Paul Chamberlain, mentions a Calame-Robert watch in the British Museum. Apart from its Guinand type carriage, it is virtually identical to the present watch.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14