Louis Audemars, made for Le Roy & Fils. A very fine and rare 18K gold hunter case minute repeating perpetual calendar keyless lever watch with phases of the moon

CASE STAMPED WITH LOUIS AUDEMARS' TRADE MARKS, NO. 11346, CUVETTE SIGNED LE ROY & FILS, HGERS DE LA MARINE, PALAIS ROYAL, 13 & 15 GALERIE MONTPENSIER, PARIS, 211 REGENT STREET, LONDON, NO. 48428, CIRCA 1870

Details

Louis Audemars, made for Le Roy & Fils. A very fine and rare 18K gold hunter case minute repeating perpetual calendar keyless lever watch with phases of the moon
Case stamped with Louis Audemars' trade marks, No. 11346, cuvette signed Le Roy & Fils, Hgers de la Marine, Palais Royal, 13 & 15 Galerie Montpensier, Paris, 211 Regent Street, London, No. 48428, circa 1870
With gilt-finished fully jewelled lever movement, bimetallic compensation balance, wolf's tooth winding, minute repeating on two polished steel hammers, gold cuvette, the white enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer Arabic five minute divisions, gold spade hands, four subsidiary dials indicating month combined with leap year indicator, day, date and phases of the moon combined with lunar calendar and constant seconds, in heavy circular case with engraved initials KM to the front, repeating in the band, case stamped with Louis Audemars' trade mark and numbered, casemaker's initials MF for Meylan Frères, cuvette signed Le Roy & Fils and numbered
55 mm. diam.

Lot Essay

Louis-Benjamin Audemars
The celebrated watch manufacture was founded in 1811 by Louis-Benjamin Audemars (1782-1833) and his sons in Le Brassus, Switzerland. Louis-Benjamin was one of Switzerland's most eminent watchmakers, a creative genius, perfectionist and immensely hard worker. Following his apprenticeship with Philippe Samuel Meylan he worked for about two years as a "master pupil" for Breguet before establishing his own company. After Louis-Benjamin's death in 1833 his sons continued the business until 1885 when the firm was liquidated.

The manufacture made high quality pocket watches which were often supplied to the most famous watchmakers of the time and invented various systems, notably a crown winding and hand setting mechanism. Some of Louis Audemars' watches are among the most complicated timepieces ever made and were awarded with the highest distinctions at several 19th Century World Exhibitions.

During its 74 years of existence, the manufacture produced only some 9,000 watches corresponding to an average of 120 watches a year.

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