Importantes Montres de Collection
Geneva, Nov 13, 2011
LOT 368
UNION HORLOGÈRE, PRESENTATION WATCH FOR KAISER WILHELM II OF GERMANY Union Horlogère, Bienne-Genève, case No. 178293, retailed by F. Schwenkau & Jnh. A. Bauer, Königl Hoflieferant (Royal Purveyor), Potsdam. Made for presentation by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, circa 1910. Fine and rare, silver, hunting-cased, keyless pocket watch engraved with the cipher of Wilhelm II.
CHF 1,000 - 2,000
USD 1,100 - 2,200 / EUR 800 - 1,500
Sold: CHF 1,750
C. Four-body, bassine, polished, the front cover engraved with a foliate letter ?W? beneath a crown, the cipher of Wilhelm II. Hinged silver cuvette. D. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Pink gold Louis XV hands. M. 18???, matte gilt, 15 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Dial case and movement signed, cuvette signed by the retailer. The case punched with Swiss and German hallmarks. Diam. 52 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Notes
Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) The last Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II ruled the German Empire from 1888 until 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria, and related to many kings and princes around Europe. Crowned in 1888 he dismissed the Chancellor, PrinceOtto von Bismarck in 1890 and launched Germany on a "New Course" in foreign affairs, culminating in his support for Austria in the crisis of the summer of 1914 that caused World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he blundered often, making major diplomatic decisions on his own, and allowing his generals to dictate policy during World War I, ignoring the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fl ed to exile in the Netherlands.