H.R. Ekegren. A Fine 18k Gold Minute Repeating Openface keyless lever watch
H.R. Ekegren. A Fine 18k Gold Minute Repeating Openface keyless lever watch

Signed H.R. Ekegren, Geneva, No. 78786, Made for J.E. Caldwell, Philadelphia, Circa 1912

Details
H.R. Ekegren. A Fine 18k Gold Minute Repeating Openface keyless lever watch
Signed H.R. Ekegren, Geneva, No. 78786, Made for J.E. Caldwell, Philadelphia, Circa 1912
Nickel-finished movement with bimetallic compensation balance, 29 jewels, 8 adjustments, minute repeating on two hammers onto two gongs, gold cuvette with presentation engraving, gold dial with enamel Breguet numerals, subsidiary seconds, plain circular case with CG initials in blue enamel, repeating slide in the band, with gold fob and gold nugget in the form of an owl, case, cuvette, dial and movement signed, cuvette further signed by retailer
47mm diam.
Provenance
Property from the de Guigne Collection

Lot Essay

The presently offered watch features a presentation engraving “Christian de Guigne Jr. from Marie Louise de Guigne, February 19th, 1912”. Christian de Guigne, Jr. married Marie Louise Elkins on November 16, 1911.

Made by the renowned firm Ed. Koehn in Geneva, often signing their watches "H.R. Ekegren".

Henri Robert Ekegren (1823-1896) was a renowned Danish watch, clock and chronometer maker and watchmaker to the King of Denmark. He worked for Urban Jürgensen, Henry Golay, Joseph-Thaddeus Winnerl and Adolph Lange before setting up his own business in Geneva. In 1857, Ekegren founded together with Ferdinand Westermann a factory specializing in the production of chronometers which was sold to Edouard Koehn in 1891.

Edouard Koehn or Ed. Koehn (1839-1908) started his horological career in the workshops of Patek Philippe as a watchmaker. In 1891 Koehn took over H.R. Ekegren, keeping the company's name and the founder as chief engineer until the latter's death in 1896. The firm, as of 1908 managed by Koehn's son Edouard, specialized in the production of flat or extra flat watches and complications and the improvement of the retrograde display mechanism. It appears that the company was dissolved in the mid-1930s.

James Emmett Caldwell (1813-1881) began his career as an apprentice to a silversmith in Philadelphia. In the early 1830s, he opened his own watch and jewelery shop which became known as J.E. Caldwell & Company in 1848. The company retailed watches made by the most celebrated manufacturers, notably Ekegren, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

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