18,400 HKD
Courvoisier & Houriet, Le Locle, probably made for the American market, circa 1790. Fine 18K gold pair cased watch. Both inner and outer double-body, polished, the inner with winding aperture. White enamel, Roman chapters, outer minute divisions with fifteen-minute Arabic numerals. Gold "arrow" hands. 41.6 mm ø, gilt full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, cylinder escapement with brass escape wheel, plain brass balance, single-footed cock pierced and engraved (including the foot) with asymmetrical foliate scrolls, ruby endstone.Signed on the movement, dial signed with initials, case stamped "F" under a coronet and numbered 15936.Diam. 54 mm. Notes Courvoisier & Houriet, a well-known firm, were considered the founders of precision watchmaking in the Neuchâtel area. They were friendly with Breguet and often acted on his behalf. When George Washington was elected president in 1789,he was presented with a Courvoisier & Houriet repeater by a Swiss settler in South Carolina. The present watch is made in the English style, which suggests that it also was destined for the States.and still has a watch paper by Solliday, a member of a well-known Pensylvania watchmaking family,
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-06-08
