24,000 CHF
Minute-Repeating, Perpetual Calendar with Retrograde Date Hunt & Roskell, 156, New Bond Street, London, No. 12956, the movement probably supplied by Louis Audemars. The case with London hallmarks for 1873-1874. Extremely fine and exceptionally rare, large, heavy, minute-repeating, 18K yellow gold keyless pocket watch with perpetual calendar without leap-year indication and retrograde date. Four-body, bassine, polished, by HW (mastermark). Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel with narrow radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary dials for the retrograde date, days of the week, 12 months and large seconds, aperture for the moon phases, gold and champleve enamel moon phase disc. Blued steel spade hands. 20’’’, frosted gilt, threequarter plate, fully jewelled in screwed gold chatons, lateral lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring with overcoil, diamond endstone, index regulator, foliate engraved balance cock, retrograde date geared with a rack and pinion assembly mounted above the toothed date wheel, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Dial and movement signed Hunt & Roskell. Diam. 56 mm. Notes The perpetual calendar with the feature of retrograde date is extremely uncommon. Like the majority of complicated English watches of the second half of the 19th century, the movement is made in Switzerland, in this case it is likely to have been supplied
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2009-11-14
