Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, May 13, 2007

LOT 80

"Hipp Toggle" Ateliers Vaucanson, Paris. Made in the 1920s. Fine and rare, wood and marble precision electric wall clock with center seconds, 24-hour dial and Hipp toggle impulse mechanism.

CHF 6,000 - 9,000

EUR 3,700 - 5,500 / USD 5,000 - 7,500

C. White marble backboard with two wall leveling screws, wooden case with glazed front, electrical contacts on the top, fine adjustment slide on the side. D. White enamel with Arabic 24-hour numerals, Roman 12, outer minute track and Roman five minute numerals, white metal bezel. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. Massive pendulum with Hipp toggle connection on the rod, large "C" shaped magnet, chromed adjustment weight, coil. Dial signed. Property of a French Gentleman Dim. 42 x 22 x 11 cm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The Hipp Toggle Mattheus Hipp, a Swiss, invented this mechanism in 1838, and clocks using this principle continued to be made from then onwards. The aim of this device is to provide an impulse to the pendulum when it's amplitude falls below a set minimum. This device allows the pendulum to swing without any interference most of the time and get an impulse only when required. The best use to which it was applied is in the master clocks used in factories and large establishments where all clocks need to show the same time. These clocks were unbelievably reliable, as indeed they had to be.