Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

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

LOT 269

?Carillon Minute Repeater? H(enri) Barbezat-Bôle, Le Locle, No. 3684, movement by Constant Piguet, Le Sentier, Swiss patent No. 11948. Made circa 1920. Fine and very rare, 18K gold, keyless hunting-cased pocket watch with carillon minute-repeating with four hammers on four gongs.

HKD 160,000 - 220,000

USD 21,000 - 30,000 / EUR 16,000 - 22,000

Sold: HKD 259,600

C. Four-body, ?demi-bassine?, polished. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel ?Breguet? hands. M. 45 mm. (20'''), gilt brass, 29 jewels, counterpoised straight- line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with five adjustments, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on four gongs with four hammers activated by a slide on the band. Movement and cuvette signed, movement punched with partial Constant Piguet patent number. Diam. 54 mm. Property of a Hong Kong Collector


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

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Carillon minute repeating watches are very rare; only a few are known with four hammers or Westminster chimes. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the No. 11948 .The makers that specialized in this type of watch were Constant Piguet, Eduard JeanRichard, and Victorin Piguet. The known tunes played by four hammer carillons are: Westminster chimes, the Swiss National anthem, and God Save the King. A watch playing God Save the King was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, on November 11, 2006, lot 53. Similar watches were sold by Antiquorum, Exceptional Horological Works of Art, Geneva, October 19, 2002, lot 8; and Important Collectors? Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Hong Kong, July 10, 2005, lot 83; Important Collectors? Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks, Geneva, May 14, 2006, lot 783 and October 15, 2006, lot 404.

Constant Piguet In 1896 Constant Piguet is listed as being a gong maker in Le Sentier in the canton of Vaud, making carillon repeating watches with four hammers. On March 20, 1896, Constant Piguet patented this system of minute-repeat with carillon, under the Swiss patent No. 11948. These watches are those for which he is best known today and bear his patent number on the movement. Literature: Journal Suisse D'Horlogerie, 1896-97, p. 325.