Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Nov 25, 2006

LOT 179

"Grande Sonnerie Carillon" Audemars Piguet, Genève, "Grand Sonnerie Carillon", No. D 94769. Made in a limited edition circa 2000. Extremely fine and rare, water-resistant, "Grande et Petite Sonnerie" striking, minute-repeating, platinum, gentleman?s wrist clockwatch with a platinum Audemars Piguet deployant clasp.

HKD 900,000 - 1,300,000

USD 115,000 - 167,000 / EUR 90,000 - 135,000

Sold: HKD 1,059,000

C. Three-body, solid, polished and brushed, case back with 5 screws, wide bezel, curved band, straight lugs, sapphire crystal.
D. Satiné silver with applied radial white gold baton indexes and Roman quater-hour numerals on a guilloché silver reserve, outer minute track and Arabic five minute numerals, subsidiary seconds dial. White gold ?baton" hands.
M. Cal. 2890, rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 55 jewels, two wheel trains, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to heat, cold isochronism and 5 positions, self-compensating flat balance spring, striking and repeating on gongs activated by a push-button on the band at 10 o'clock, slide at 2 o'clock for selection of "Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie or Silence" striking. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 39 mm. Thickness 11 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

With a long tradition in the production of highly complicated repeaters, Audemars Piguet developed the first minute-repeating mechanism for a wristwatch only in 1985. While minute repeaters chime the hours, quarters and minutes on 2 gongs with 2 hammers, the present watch - introduced in 1997 after years of research and development - offers the following extended functions: The "Grande Sonnerie" will automatically strike the hours and the quarters at each quater, while, when set to the "Petite Sonnerie" position, it will strike only the quarters. Each function can be activated with the slide at 2, which also offers a "Silent" mode that will deactivate these features if so desired. The "Carillon" mechanism will chime the quarters with 3 hammers on 3 gongs, adding a further tone to the "ding-dong" connoisseurs are so familiar with.
With the push-button at 10, which winds the spring of the striking mechanism, the minute repeating function can be activated at any time, regardless of the slide's positioning at 2. When fully wound, the time-keeping mechanism will run for approximately 48 hours, the power reserve for the "Grande Sonnerie" is approximately 20 hours, for the "Petite Sonnerie", approximately 60 hours.