Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 16, 2005

LOT 41

?Bone Watch? Mikhail Semyonovitch Bronnikov. Made circa 1865. Fine and extremely rare watch entirely made of bone. Accompanied by the original carved bone chain, hook and key.

CHF 25,000 - 30,000

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

Sold: CHF 34,500

C. Double-body, hinged back cover, polished, bezels with turned ribs at the edges, a small circle in the center. Chain: single and double links, carved from bone, 8 mm ring-links. D. Bone with Arabic numerals on circular cartouches, subsidiary seconds. Bone hands. M. Entirely made of bone with pinned bone bridges, excluding the main-spring, balance-spring and pivots, with going barrel, cylinder escapement with bone staff, plain bone three-arm balance, bone index regulator. Back cover signed in Cyrillic. Diam. 50 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-19

Good

Dent(s)
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The famous wooden watches by the Bronnikovs are very rare and bone watches are much rarer. Far fewer examples were made and even fewer survive today. Bronnikov The Bronnikov family came from Vjatka, Russia, and specialized in the making of all-wood, and all-ivory watches. The first recorded member of the family was Ivan Bronnikov (c. 1770 - 1860), a skillful joiner and turner. His son was Semyon Ivanovitch (1800 - 1875). Semyon had seven sons, among them Mikhail Semyonovitch and Nicolai Semyonovitch, who continued his work, as did Mikhail's son Nicolai Mikhailovitch, who was the last watchmaker in the family. Nicolai Mikhailovitch left Vjatka for Moscow in 1909 or 1910 and is said to have worked there for the firm of Paul Buhre. Watches by the Bronnikovs are found in the Hermitage, the Moscow Clock Industry Research Institute, the Tbilisi Museum of People's Art, the Physics and Math Salon of Dresden, in museums in Vjatka, Slobodskoi, Veliky Ustyug, Cherepovets, and in private collections in Moscow, Angarsk, Zlatoust, and Irkutsk. Known signatures include "M.S. Bronnikov in Vjatka", "The Bronnikov Brothers in Vjatka", and "N.M. Bronnikov in Vjatka". Literature: "The Bronnikov Dynasty" by Theodore R. Crom, NWCC Bulletin Vol. 43/6 No. 335, December 2001. The present lot was previously sold by Antiquorum Hong Kong, on June 9, 2001, lot 329.