Thematic Auction in Geneva:The Evolut...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Geneva, Nov 16, 2002

LOT 316

Louis Elisée Piguet, No. 2776, made to the design of Louis Brandt & Frère (Omega), retailed by H. Barbezat-Bole, Le Locle, circa 1900.Very fine and important 18K gold hunting-cased keyless double-train carillon Grande Sonnerie clockwatch with minute-repeating, chronograph and instantaneous center 60-minute register.

CHF 15,000 - 20,000

EUR 10,000 - 13,000

Sold: CHF 36,800

C. Four-body, massive, "bassine et filets" polished, gold hinged cuvette over glazed gold bezel for viewing the movement. D. White enamel, double sunk, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost chronograph track, five-minute/seconds Arabic markers, subsidiary sunk seconds. M. 45 mm. (20'''), frosted gilt, 34 jewels, straight line calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring.Signed on the movement under the dial, punched also with patent No. 7832, case punched with Barbezat-Bole trade mark.Diam. 58 mm.


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Grading System
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

The watch combines a number of unusual features; the basic sonnerie movement is based on Henri Golay's 1859 inven-tion for striking watches with a minute-repeating mechanism. It was improved to the status of carillon by Louis Brandt & Frère , who registered Swiss patent No. 7832 on December 30, 1893. (Louis Brandt was the founder of Omega.)It was then fitted with a chronograph with a rare type of instantaneous center register. It was executed by one of the best makers of complicated pieces of the time, Louis Elisée Piguet.Louis Elisée Piguet (1836 - 1924)From Le Brassus, he made a number of exceptional timepieces, such as a "grande sonnerie" with seven hammers. Some of the most complicated watches sold in Glashütte employed L. E. Piguet movements. Patek Philippe, Vacheron & Cons-tantin, and Breguet, just to mention a few, employed his movements on special occasions. He improved chronographs, invented a fixed star repeating mechanism, improved keyless winding system. When Ami LeCoultre Piguet received a commission for his so-called "La Merveilleue", a watch with 24 functions and complications, he choose Louis Elisée Piguet as partner. One of the most talented and prolific watchmakers of the end of the 19th century, he was very respected by his peers and was chosen to serve on a number of horological committees. His company has survived and has continued the tradition of making high quality complicated timepieces, as Frédrick Piguet SA.Literature: "Horlogers et montres exceptionnels de la Vallée de Joux", Daniel Aubert, Neuchâtel, 1997.