Swiss. A very fine and rare 18K pink gold and enamel openface quarter repeating verge watch with two jacquemarts and automaton scene depicting a knife grinder and his assistant driving the wheel

UNSIGNED, CIRCA 1820

Details

Swiss. A very fine and rare 18K pink gold and enamel openface quarter repeating verge watch with two jacquemarts and automaton scene depicting a knife grinder and his assistant driving the wheel
Unsigned, circa 1820
Keywound gilt-finished full plate verge movement, pierced balance cock, gilt cuvette, Arabic numerals on outer white enamel chapter ring, central blued steel background, applied vari-coloured gold and polychrome enamel automaton scene with two putti sitting on a bridge centred by an urn overflowing with flowers and striking two bells in unison with the repeating, below the bridge an automaton scene depicting a knife-grinder grinding a knife and his assistant spinning a wheel which drives the grindstone, all activated in unison with the repeating by depressing the pendant, circular case, ribbed band, case numbered 5353
58.5 mm. diam.

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Lot Essay

Most likely made in Geneva around 1820, the present watch combines two jacquemarts and a scene with four automatons: the knife-grinder moving his arms up and down, his assistant driving the wheel, the large turning wheel thus driving the smaller turning grindstone, all activated in unison with the quarter repeating. It is furthermore preserved in very good, original overall condition.
Particular en vogue in the first half of the 19th century, these automaton watches enjoyed great popularity also among Chinese nobility.
A similar automaton watch is illustrated in Le Monde des Automates by Chapuis & Gélis, Vol. II,

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