30,680 HKD
"Golden Leaves" Swiss, No. 10049. Made circa 1830. Very fine and rare, thin, 18K gold, paste-set, granulation-decorated, lady’s pendant watch with detachable matching pendant suspension. Two-body, very elaborately decorated with applied gold forming a foliate and floral pattern with paste-set flowers, paste-set rosette in the center, granulation on edges, whole on finely matted gold background, bezel, bow, pendant and fitting decorated en suite. Silver, champlevé radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, engine-turned center. Blued steel Breguet hands. 35 mm., bagnolet type calibre, frosted gilt, full-plate with cutout for the balance, going barrel, the mainspring beneath a plate with two screws, cylinder escapement, three-arm gold balance with flat balance spring, index regulator. Diam. 45 mm. Property of an Swiss collector Notes Granulation This technique, using tiny beads of gold, was employed and probably invented by the ancient Etruscans. Most of the watches from the period using this method employed a technique in which ready-to-apply gold beads and wires were soldered onto the surface, thereby forming the desired pattern.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-06-02