Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Jun 02, 2007

LOT 127

?Retrograde Perpetual Calendar? MRM, Swiss, No. 14996. Made circa 1880. Fine and rare, astronomic, 18K yellow gold, hunting-cased, keyless pocket watch with perpetual calendar, retrograde date, moonphases and winding disengagement feature when the front cover is closed.

HKD 60,000 - 70,000

USD 8,000 - 9,000 / EUR 6,000 - 7,000

Sold: HKD 70,800

C. Three-body, ?bassine et filet?, heavy, polished. Gold-rimmed glazed cover over the movement. D. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary dials for the months, days of the week and seconds, aperture for the moon phases at 12, retrograde date sector below. Blued steel ?spade? hands. M. 41 mm., 19???, rhodium-plated, ?fausses cotes? decoration, 19 jewels, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, winding disengaged when the front cover is closed. Case punched ?MRM? Diam. 53 mm. Property of an English Gentleman


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3-24

Good

Slightly chipped
Movement: 3-9*

Good

Scratched

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-43-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The present watch is particularly interesting because it exhibits two very rarely found and sophisticated horological features. The perpetual calendar with retrograde date is extremely uncommon and was made by very few workshops including Breguet and Marius LeCoultre. A watch with a very similar dial, but made for the Islamic market by Breguet, circa 1870, was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, November 13, 2005. The winding of the watch is disengaged when the front cover is closed, this is a subtle mechanism activated from the hinge but one which is quite difficult for the watchmaker to incorporate and illustrates the extra planning that went into the design and construction of this watch.