23,575 HKD
J(ean) Baptiste Baillon a Paris, No. 2448, circa 1750. Extremely fine and important 20K gold quarter-repeating à toc watch with à tact option, in early engine-turned case. Two-body, Louis XV, by master casemaker Joseph Quetin, back engine-turned in a variety of patterns, pronounced hinge. White enamel, Roman numerals, outer minute divisions with five-minute Arabic markers, winding aperture at 2 o’clock. Gold “Louis XV” hands. 38 mm, hinged, frosted gilt full-plate with baluster pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, brass balance with flat balance spring, micrometric potence adjustment, continental cock with endstone, repeating on gold blocks of the case by depressing the pendant.Signed on dial and movement.Diam. 46 mm. Notes This is an excellent example of an early engine-turned watch made by an eminent maker. It appears that the artist wanted to show all the different patterns his rose engine was capable of; he succeeded splendidly. Jean Baptiste III Albert Baillon (d. 1772) Was made “Valet de Chambre –Horloger Ordinaire de la Reine” in 1727, “Premier Valet de Chambre de la Reine” (before1748), then “Premier Valet de Chambre” and “Valet de Chambre-Horloger Ordinaire de la Dauphine Marie-Antoinette” in 1770. He was established in the Place Dauphine in 1738 and the rue Dauphine after 1751. Jean-Baptiste III Baillon was one of the most important clockmakers of the 18th century, in terms of the extent of his business, and an extremely wealthy man. Berthoud described
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-06-06
