25,000 CHF
Etienne Cless – Quarter Repeating Coach Watch – Portrait of Napoleon I Etienne Cless à Geneve. Made circa 1810. Very fine and rare, quarter-repeating, silver-gilt small coach watch with a very fine Limoges enamel portrait of Napoleon I. Two-body, Empire, the bezel chased with a repeated palmette pattern, the back set with a Limoges enamel portrait of Napoleon I against a deep red ground, outer border to match the bezel. White enamel with Arabic numerals, outer minute track, winding aperture at 2, foliate engraved border on the dial plate. Blued steel hands. 58 mm., matte gilt, full-plate, pentagonal baluster pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, five-arm brass balance, flat balance spring, pierced and engraved foliate continental balance cock with polished steel endplate, silvered regulation dial, repeating on a bell in the back of the case activated by depressing the pendant. Dial and movement signed. Diam. 79 mm. Notes This watch is set with a very fine and expressive chiaroscuro portrait of Napoleon by the Limoges school of enamelers. It is very rare to find a coach watch decorated in this way and it was perhaps made as a special order.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2011-03-27
