Important Collector's, Watches, Wrist...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 15, 2000

LOT 393

Staples, London, No. 1352, circa 1780.Very fine and rare, fire-gilded, pair-cased, astronomical, lunar calendar, center-seconds, stop-watch, two-tune musical automaton coach watch, with unusual escapement, made for the Chinese market.

C. Outer: two hinged bezels, pierced and chiseled in foliage with four rosettes finished at the edges with alternating red and white stones. Inner: double-body, back glazed for the automaton, sides pierced and chiseled and engraved with foliage. D. Eccentric white enamel with Arabic numerals, gold "spade" hands, central seconds with outer Arabic seconds, subsidiary dials for days of the week, days of the month, lunar calendar, regulator hand and tune-changing hand at the bottom. Automaton: Consits of three concentric discs. The outer one painted with eight lower limbs of the devil, a priest, a man, a witch, a bird, the figure of Death, a lawyer, a gentleman. The middle ring contains the seven middle portions of the same subjects except the bird, the inner ring contains the three human faces, a skull for Death?s head, a fox and Satan?s head. Due to the uneven number of subjects on each disk, the disks constantly align differently as the music plays, resulting, for example, in the pries?s having a fox head, or the gentleman a Satan?s body. M. Fire-gilded, full-plate, fusee and chain, virgule escapement with flat brass escape wheel with sharp teeth, the impulse is only on the balance staff, plain steel balance, flat balance spring. Musical train with fixed barrel, five vibrating blades and five hammers on five bells, cam for changing the melody, the cylinder consists of ten discs with milled triangular flirts (unlike the usual pins). The automaton is driven by the music train.he music plays every hour on the hour or on demand.Signed on the dial.Diam. 114 mm.