Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 18, 1997

LOT 596

Bovet, Fleurier, No. 477, Swiss, made for the Chinese Market, circa 1830. Very fine and rare 18K gold and enamel, pair of centre seconds watches with special escapement, accompanied by a red leather fitted box marked Guinand in Chinese characters.

CHF 30,000 - 35,000

Sold: CHF 39,100

C. Two body, with fixed bezels fully enamelled with flower and foliage decoration over a black ground. Hinged gold glazed cuvettes. D. White enamel with Roman numerals and outer minute and seconds ring. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. Blued and polished steel, " Chinese" calibre with free standing barrel, steel single wheel duplex escapement,polished steel fivearm balances with flat balance springs and regulators. Signed on the movement. Diam. 55 mm. Lot of 2.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 18

Spotted
Movement: 4

Fair
Dial: 21-51

Period

Partially reprinted

Notes

Previously in the collection of Madame C.......this pair of watches was sold in Paris at the Hotel Drouot on 3 February 1949, lot 64. Swiss were good salesmen and they explained to the Chinese that since China was so far away from Switzerland, it would be best to purchase the watches in pairs so that when one needed to be sent back to the maker for repair or overhaul, they could use the other one in the meantime. Therefore, whether they were simple silver watches or more prestigious executions, Chinese Market watches were always sold in pairs. As for a good many objects of art of Chinese origin most of the prestigious Chinese Market watches that can now be found in the West were brought back by soldiers following two major military operations. The first event was in 1858 and led to the Occupation of Peking on October 13th, 1860, after the Victory of Pa-Li Liao (Palikao) on September 21st of that year and the sack of the Summer Palace. At that time, the Summer Palace or "Yuan Ming Yuan ", originally built by Jesuits at the beginning of the 18th century, was entirely stripped of its treasures in revenge for the tortures inflicted on Europeans. Later, other valuable objects were looted by the troops of the international expeditionary force sent to crush the Boxers revolt. These troops, under the commandment of the German General Von Waldersee, were made up of French, English, Germans, Italians, Austrians, Russians, Americans, and Japanese. After the storming of Tien-Tsin, on July 14th, 1900, allied troops entered Peking freeing the foreign legations and put to flight the Empress 'l 's ' Eu-Hi. It is during these events, that the largest number of objects were taken out of China. It is therefore not surprising that it is rare today to find Chinese Market watches as pairs given that the majority of such watches brought back to the West following these events were divided up after the roofings. Furthermore, the few Chinese Market watches that did manage to return safely to Europe as pairs, were later split up for inheritance purposes.