27,600 CHF
Liberateur de l'Univers Attributed to François Czapek, Genève & Paris, No. 4762, circa 1859, enamel attributed to Auguste Dutertre. Highly important 18K gold and painted on enamel hunting-cased keyless pocket chronometer with pivoted detent escapement, made to celebrate the Italo-French victory over the Austrians in 1859. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary sunk seconds. Elaborate blued steel pierced hands. Notes François Czapek Was a Polish émigré, who in 1831 arrived in Switzerland after the fall of the Polish insurrection against Russia. ot long after that date he established a watchmaking enterprise, called Czapek and Moreau. Mr. Moreau had a very beautiful niece who won the heart of another young Pole, Antoni Patek. The two became engaged, and three months short of their wedding date, Patek, Czapek, and Moreau signed an agreement establishing a new company - Patek & Czapek. The partnership lasted six years during hich some exceptional watches were produced. After the dissolution, Czapek founded "Czapek et Cie", also with a new partner, Juliusz Gruzewski. Czapek's new company did well. Gruzewski was a personal friend of apoleon III, and Czapek quickly became watchmaker to the court of the Emperor. He had a factory in Geneva, a shop in Warsaw, and another in Paris. He wrote a small book about watches and watchmaking in which he announced that he was working on a larger volume, but he unfortunately died be ore publishing it. An
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-06-14
