56,640 CHF
“One-Minute Tourbillon” Ernest Guinand, Locle, No. 3321. The case with Chester hallmarks for 1858-59. Very fine and important, early, thin, 18K gold hunting-cased pocket watch with one-minute tourbillon regulator of unusual layout and straight-line lever escapement in a leather-covered fitted box, accompanied by crank lever key. Five-body, case-maker’s mark “WR”, "bassine et filets", engine-turned, foliate and florally engraved, chased band, pendant and bow. Hinged gold-rimmed glazed cuvette. Silver, engine-turned and foliate engraved, with applied “Gothic” radial Roman numerals, varicolored gold foliate decoration and and subsidiary seconds. Gold “Louis XV” hands. Notes The present watch appears to be one of only two of this caliber. The other one was sold by Antiquorum at the “Longitude at the Eve of the Third Millennium” sale, October 23, 1999, lot 55. The present watch was sold by Antiquorum, Geneve, Novemebr 14, 2004, Lot 451. Ernest Guinand (c.1810 - 1879) The most eminent of Swiss tourbillon makers of the period, he rarely signed his watches. They were sold to établisseurs who signed them and in turn sold them to their clients. The “signature” takes the form of the shape of the bridge, which forms the letter G. The present watch is also rare because it features a straight line lever escapement. Guinand generally used a lateral lever escapement, if he used a lever escapement at all. Guinand, from Le Locle, who, along with Auguste Grether from Ponts-de-Martel 181
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2006-04-02
