10,925 CHF
Unsigned, Swiss, circa 1810. Fine and rare early minute-repeating watch with special escapement. Four-body, "Empire", fluted band, polished back, hinged gilt cuvette fixed to a plate mounted on the movement. White enamel, Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, winding aperture between 1 and 2. Gold "double crescent" hands. Notes A rare example of an early minute-repeating mechanism still based on the movable star wheel. It was half a century later that Audemars invented a mechanism with fixed star, making the hour-repeating change more precise and consequently enabling minute-repeating work to be more accurate. Before, makers had difficulty obtaining accurate repeating at the beginning and end of the hour. Only a few succeeded, most notably Breguet and some of his pupils. The present watch features an interesting solution to the problem of the accurate striking at the change of the hour. In later watches, usually the mechanism rapidly advances the so-called surprise piece, set below the minute cam, and the rack falls on the surprise piece, changing the mode of striking from the end of the hour to the beginning. In the present watch the surprise mechanism for the minutes was discarded and the minute cam was mounted on a 60-tooth ratchet wheel controlled by a jump pring. The wheel turns loosely on the canon pinion for about 10 degrees. The jump spring makes the wheel jump about 3 degrees every minute and consequently does the same on the 60th minute, rapidlychangin Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-06-14
