Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Hong Kong, Hotel Furama Kempinski, Jun 09, 1997

LOT 411

Dubois & Fils (Neuchatel), Swiss, circa 1810. "La Cuisine" Very fine and rare 18K gold and enamel double face watch with an automaton scene.

HKD 310,000 - 350,000

USD 40,000 - 45,000

Sold: HKD 437,000

C. Double body, Directoire, No. 3640 with Neuchatel hallmarks, polished with glazed back. D. White enamel with Breguet numerals and small subsidiary regulator sector. Blued steel fancy Breguet hands with gold tips. Magnificent varicoloured gold automaton scene applied over a painted ground depicting a kitchen: sitting by the mantlepiece is an old lady grinding herbs with pester and mortar, while a chicken on a spit is roasting in front of a roaring fire; the spit is driven by a small clog running in a playing wheel linked to the spit by a chain; another clog on the foreground is playing with a squirrel. M. Hinged gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, going barrel, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring. The automaton movements driven by means of a repeating mechanism, cams and levers instead of the usual independent train. Signed on the dial. In very good condition. Diam. 61 mm.


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Notes

A similar watch, signed Breguet, probably by Gounouilhou was sold by Antiquorum on 13 April 1997, lot 595. Another similar watch by Gounouilhou is illustrated by E. Jaquet and A. Chapuis in 1-/istoire et Technique de La PVlontre Suisse, 1945, pl. 102. In their book: Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928, another watch of this type is illustrated p. 87. A. Chapuis and E. Gelis indicate that only three were known by that time. Among all the elaborated automaton scenes to be found on watches produced in Geneva, "The Kitchen" is also one of the most thought after by collectors and greatly contributed to the fame of Gounouilhou. As opposed to similar watches produced in Geneva by Gounouilhou, the watch now offered for sale is technically different. Hinged in the case, the movement is with going barrel and cylinder escapement and the automata are driven by a repeating mechanism fitted with cams and levers instead of the usual independent train as used by Gounouilhou. Therefore the automaton scene can be set in motion by depressing the pendant. Certainly produced in Geneva, the automaton scene was certainly supplied to Dubois & Fils by Gounouillou.