Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Oct 15, 2006

LOT 347

?Pendule Astronomique? Lallemand A Paris. Made circa 1685. Very fine and very rare, Louis XIV, astronomic and latitudinal, 8-day going gilt bronze and tortoiseshell table clock with 24-hour dial, hour and half-hour striking, day and night dial, length of day indication, seasons and zodiac indications, calendar, lunar calendar and latitude chart.

CHF 15,000 - 25,000

EUR 10,000 - 16,000 / USD 12,000 - 20,000

Sold: CHF 76,700

C. Rectangular, each corner flanked by two gilt bronze Corinthian stop-fluted pilasters, brass and tortoiseshell inlaid base, raised on toupie feet, glazed sides and gilt bronze door, stepped gilt bronze cornice with pierced gallery above, the top with a gilt bronze figure of winged victory flanked by figures of courage and constancy, a stylized ship?s prow with military trophies in front, the back door inlaid with ebony, brass and tortoiseshell. D. Engraved gilt brass chapter ring with individual engraved Arabic minute numerals, white enamel cartouches with black Roman numerals 1-12 in each half of the dial, inner quarter-hour divisions, central interlocking starstudded blued steel night and silver day shutters and scale for setting the length of the days, small dial below the chapter ring with indications for the four seasons, the months with their respective days, zodiac with respective symbols, inner disc with scale calibrated 0-66, independently adjustable blued steel hand, apertures for the date and the lunar calendar with setting arbor, the engraved dial mask with foliage in the upper half, the lower half engraved with the names of 70 places throughout the world and their latitudes. Blued steel hands. M. 15 x 15.5 cm., rectangular brass, five baluster pillars (the sixth removed to allow space for the calendar work), going barrels for the going and striking trains, verge escapement with cycloidal cheeks and silk suspension, brass bob pendulum, small uncut numbered countwheel, pierced steel striking gates, hammer and bell mounted within the gallery above. Movement signed. Dim. 64 x 30 x 20 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-04

Good

HANDS Later

Notes

For the period, the present clock is remarkably complicated and a very rare survival. The hours are geared so that the hour hand makes one full rotation in 24-hours, whilst the minute hand makes the usual one full rotation per hour. One of the most interesting aspects of this clock is the inclusion of the latitude tables for cities and countries throughout the world. The purpose of the latitude charts is so that the gnomon of owners portable sundial could be adjusted to the appropriate latitude for the place he was visiting and hence the clock could be accurately set. This perhaps suggests that the clock was made for an ambassador from the court of Louis XIV or a very high ranking seafarer, indeed, the fine gilt bronze cresting represents maritime victory. Provenance: The Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois. Inventory No. 1729. ?Masterpieces from The Time Museum?, Sotheby?s , New York, December 2, 1999, Lot 70. Lallemand or Lallemant Was working in St. Germain, Paris, 1675-86.