Important Collectors Watches, Pocket...
Geneva, Oct 14, 2007
LOT 103
?Stainless Steel Swordfish? Graham, ?Chronograph Swordfish?, No. 630. Made circa 2000. Fine, oversized, self-winding, water resistant, stainless steel wristwatch with round button chronograph and a rubber strap with a stainless steel Graham buckle.
CHF 7,000 - 9,000
EUR 4,300 - 5,500 / USD 5,800 - 7,500
C. Three-body, polished and brushed, case back secured with 8 screws and embossed with British Masters Logo, rounded band, concave bezel, curved straight lugs, screwed-down textured winding crown engraved ?Graham?, indented push-buttons with ?Clous de Paris? pattern, sapphire crystal with 2 round concave steel inserts to magnify the registers. D. Black with luminous Arabic numerals and baton indexes, outer chronograph scale, minute division in the center, subsidiary dials for the 30-minute and 12-hour registers. Luminous steel "skeleton" hands. M. Cal. G 1726, rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 30 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 46 mm. Thickness 18 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: A |
Good |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 2 |
Very good |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Notes
An eminent British maker, inventor of the dead-beat escapement (1715) and the mercury pendulum (1726), in 1725 he improved the cylinder escapement to its present form. He was admitted as a Freeman of the Clockmaker's Company in 1695 and immediately began working for Thomas Tompion. After Tompion's death in 1713, Graham continued in business at the same address, at the sign of the Dial and Three Crowns, Fleet Street, London, moving to new premises in 1720, the Dial and One Crown, where he remained until his death. Graham was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1721 and became a Member of the Council of that body in 1722. He became a Master of the Clockmaker's Company in 1722.