Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Oct 15, 2006

LOT 56

Yellow Gold ?Ref. 4261, Very Flat? Vacheron & Constantin, Genève, No. 501906, case No. 328061, Ref. 4261. Made in 1954. Extremely rare, fine and elegant, large, flat, minute-repeating, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch.

CHF 200,000 - 250,000

EUR 130,000 - 160,000 / USD 160,000 - 200,000

Sold: CHF 244,200

C. Three-body, solid, polished and brushed, stepped bezel, teardrop lugs, the back with engraved initials. D. Flinqué, brushed, silvered with applied gold faceted pointer indexes and Arabic quarter-hour numerals, outer dot minute and applied gold dot five minute markers. Yellow gold "bâton" hands. M. Cal. 13'" JMV, 3.1 mm thick, rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes " decoration, 29 jewels, straightline lever escapement, cut bimetallic balance adjusted to two positions and temperatures, blued steel flat balance spring, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 5.8 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Towards the mid-20th century, Vacheron Constantin produced only 36 examples of minute-repeating wristwatches, in pink, yellow, white gold and in platinum: 17 examples beginning in 1942, 9 beginning in 1944 and 10 beginning in 1951. Of these, only ten examples of large extra-flat minute-repeating wristwatches had a 13''' movement (3.1 thickness, total thickness without glass 5.8 mm): 8 in yellow gold, one in pink gold, and two in platinum. A similar watch, bearing the number 501910, was sold by Antiquorum, October 11 and 12, 2003, lot 140. Collectors and professionals the world over consider this model to be the most beautiful minute-repeating wristwatch made during the last seventy years. The teardrop lugs of these models are a unique and distinctive characteristic of the company?s wristwatches, and were used for watches ranging from the simple timepiece (Ref. 4218, Ref. 4412) to the most complicated (Ref. 4241 with full calendar and moon phases; Ref. 4261 with minute-repeat). For similar watches in platinum, yellow gold and pink gold, see: Antiquorum, Geneva, ?The Quarter Millennium of Vacheron Constantin?, April 3, 2005, lots 41, 142 & 226.

What is a Minute Repeater?
A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the 9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it will count out the hours. Then both hammers will strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes after that quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.