Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 16, 2005

LOT 358

?Local Hospitality? Henry Moser & Cie, Swiss, No. 244214. Made circa 1910. Very fine and amusing, 18K gold, sapphire and pearl set hunting-cased, keyless minute repeating pocket watch with concealed erotic automaton.

CHF 25,000 - 30,000

EUR 16,000 - 20,000 / USD 20,000 - 25,000

C. Five-body, ?bassine?, hinged and sprung circular-reeded front cover set with a pearl and cabochon sapphire set anchor, the back cover circular-reeded, polished band, the winding crown set with a large cut sapphire. Gold hinged cuvette with concealed enamel erotic scene depicting two sailors enjoying local hospitality in a loggia, their ship in the background. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Gold ?spade? hands. M. 20''', rhodium plated, wolf?s tooth winding, 31 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Dial signed. Diam. 59 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3-61

Good
Movement: 3-6-8*

Good

Slightly oxidized

Slightly scratched

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

The enamelled erotic scene was later made on special order. Johann Heinrich Moser (1805 ? 1874) Swiss watchmaker, son of a clockmaker, moved to St. Petersburg about 1827, where he opened a watch business (Nevskii Prospect and Malaya Konyushennaya St.). He had also a branch in Moscow. Moscow registers shows that he had an office there from 1827 to 1874 on Ilinka St. In 1874 the son Henry Moser, Jr. took over the business. The Moser Co. did business all over Russia, including such far places as Vladivostock in Siberia. In the third quarter of the 19th century they became suppliers to the Tsar.