55,200 CHF
“The Sea-Saw” Swiss, No. 32. Made in Geneva, circa 1815. Very fine and extremely rare, 18K gold and painted on enamel, musical pocket watch with automata and concealed erotic automata. Three-body, “Empire”, polished concave bezel, reeded band, the back cover engraved and enamelled with a scene of a sailor and a lady leaving a house, a ship on the sea behind. Beneath the back cover a later painted on enamel erotic scene of a couple in an interior, a carriage visible through the window behind. Gold, eccentric with polished Arabic numerals on a matted ground, outer dot minute markers, engine-turned centre. Blued steel gold-tipped “spade” hands. Finely painted on enamel scene of an Arcadian landscape, mounted with multicoloured gold automaton figures of Cupid and a lyre player on a sea-saw formed from Cupid’s bow, another Cupid strikes a pair of kettle drums below whilst a dog dances to the tune. 23 mm., gilt brass full-plate, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, cylinder escapement, pierced and chased foliate continental type balance cock, silvered regulation dial. Pinned barrel musical movement driving the automata by a series of levers and cams, activated at will by a lever in the band. Punch numbered on the front-plate. Diam. 58 mm. Notes The idea of making the watch movement as an independent entity and setting it into the front plate of an automaton movement is simple, yet ingenious. By using this arrangement, more space is made available for the automaton mechanisms
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-10-16