74,750 HKD
Hilaire Bassereau (Paris), No. 365-2/1802, completed in February 1802. Fine and rare 18K gold, quarter-repeating watch with duplex escapement, the cuvette with manual date and equation table. Three-body, “Empire” with reeded band and polished back. Hinged gilt brass cuvette, the center engraved with a date ring and outer equation of time table. The polished steel pointer driven by click work on the reverse each time the key is inserted in the winding hole. White enamel by master dial maker P. Reymond, with small central hour chapter with Breguet numerals and outer Arabic minute ring on the border of the bezel. Blued steel Breguet hands. 47 mm (21’’’), gilt brass, true Lépine caliber with free-standing barrel, double wheel duplex escapement with jeweled staff for the rest wheel, brass impulse wheel and steel rest wheel, three-arm gold balance with “parachute” suspension, flat balance spring with bimetallic compensation curb on the index, Lepine-type repeating system with LeRoy anchor governor, repeating on large rectangular gongs by depressing the pendant. Signed and dated on the cuvette.Diam. 59 mm. Notes The watch has an ingenious but simple calendar mechanism which advances by one day during the daily winding of the watch. The escapement, with ruby balance staff insert, is also unusual, employing a double wheel of two different metals. The large gongs with heavy bumper blocks are rarely seen in watches. Jean-Hilaire Bassereau (1743-1806) was an eminent maker working i
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-06-06
