287,500 HKD
The Abduction of Helen Attributed to Bovet, made for the Chinese market, circa 1835. Extremely fine and rare large dead center-seconds watch with duplex escapement. Two-body, No. 981, “Chinese” type, the back very finely painted with the abduction of Helen, champlevé enamel bezels, pendant and bow, glazed cuvette hinged to the movement ring. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minutes/seconds divisions with fifteen-minutes/seconds Arabic markers. Blued steel “spoon” hands. 54 mm (24’’’), gilt brass fully engraved “Chinese” caliber, free-standing barrel, Jacot duplex escapement with 6-tooth steel escape wheel, plain steel three-arm balance with blued steel crescent weights, flat balance-spring. Diam. 62 mm. Notes The escapement During the last quarter of the 18th century, several watchmakers tried to produce watches with dead center-seconds hands, much in favor among the scientific community and on the Chinese market. The first attempt, made by Moïse Pouzait around 1786, featured a lever escapement associated with a large seconds-beating balance. It was much appreciated by the Chinese before Jacot’s invention, circa 1840, of the so-called "Chinese duplex" escapement with double-tooth arrangement. The present watch features this escapement in its earliest form. Helen and Paris After the famous beauty contest between three goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, the judge, Paris, (son of the King of Troy) was promised the most beautiful woman in the world by the v
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-06-06
