2,875 CHF
William Williams, 32 Rock St. , Bury, No. 1914, hallmarked 1890-91. Very rare and fine silver, keyless stopwatch capable of measuring intervals as short as 1/16 of a second. Four-body, “bassine et filets”, polished, silver, hinged cuvette. Off-white, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, outermost 1/16 of a second divisions with radial Arabic numerals, subsidiary sunk 1/16th seconds. Gold “spade” hands. 49 mm, frosted gilt 3/4-plate, 17 jewels, 60° lateral counterpoised lever escapement, three-arm gold balance, flat balance spring.Dial and movement signed.Diam. 59 mm. Notes William Williams of Bury took out a patent on March 26, 1890 in England for an escapement that “beats ten, twelve, or sixteen times a second”. He added one wheel to the standard train, placed the escape wheel where the seconds hand is located and employed an extremely fast balance, beating 57,600 times per hour.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
