45,425 CHF
(Constant Piguet, Sentier), No. 3378, Swiss patent No. 11948. Made circa 1915. Very fine and extremely rare, slim, carillon minute repeating 18K gold hunting-cased dress watch. Four-body, “bassine”, polished. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Black steel Breguet hands. 43 mm (19’’’), frosted gilt, bar calibre, 28 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating the hours, quarter hours and minutes with four hammers on four gongs activated by a slide in the band. Diam. 54 mm. Notes On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the No. 11948 . Carillon minute repeating watches are very rare; only a few are known either with four hammer chimes or Westminster chimes. The makers that specialized in this type of watch were Constant Piguet, Eduard JeanRichard, and Victorin Piguet. The known tunes played by four hammer carillons are: that of the present watch, Westminster chimes, the Swiss National anthem, and God Save the King. Similar watches were sold by Antiquorum, Exceptional Horological Works of Art, Geneva, October 19, 2002, lot 8, and Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Hong Kong, July 10, 2005, lot 83.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-10-16
