14,750 CHF
“Temps du Cupidon” Houriet & Fils, Neuchâtel, No. 18717. Made circa 1825. Very fine, 18K gold quarter-repeating pocket watch with skeletonized movement and automaton Jacks. Three-body, “Empire”, engine-turned back, reeded band with a bolt to block the repeater. Spring-loaded gilded ring cuvette. White enamel, annular with Breguet hour numerals and outer minute divisions, center disclosing two multicolored gold putti on a polished blued steel ground, striking the hours and quarters on two bells, lower and center skeletonized to view the going train. Blued steel "Breguet" hands. Gilt brass skeletonized with cylindrical pillars, going barrel, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring, polished steel balance bridge and repeat work on the back plate, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant. Dial, cuvette and movement signed. Diam. 57 mm. Notes Jacques-Frédéric Houriet (1743-1830) After a stay of nine years in Paris for work and study, Houriet settled in Le Locle, where he became an important promoter of horology, working with his son and many other members of his immediate and extended family. See: Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois, Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, 1998.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2006-05-14
