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Lot Essay
Preserved in excellent condition, this highly impressive, complicated, large and heavy gold minute repeating watch exemplifies the height of luxury watchmaking in the late 19th century.
The firm of Le Roy were famed for supplying some of the very best complicated watches, the present watch with a total of eight complications is no exception.
The three-quarter plate matte gilt movement is certainly in the “English style”, it was probably supplied by LeCoultre and finished by the firm of Nicole Nielsen & Co. in London. The escapement is the classic English lateral lever with diamond endstone rather than the Swiss straight line lever. In addition to the perpetual calendar, to audibly know the time to the nearest minute, the repeating mechanism can be activated by the slide in the band.
Le Roy & Sons
Since the 17th century, the ancient firm of Le Roy has been one of the great names of French watchmaking having been watchmakers to the Dukes of Chartres and Bourbon and then Watchmaker to the King and the Duke of Orléans.
In 1854 the first Le Roy boutique in London was opened under the name "Le Roy & Sons" at 296 Regent Street. The success of the first boutique was followed by the opening of a second outlet at 57 New Bond Street where the present watch was sold. In 1863 Queen Victoria granted Le Roy & Sons the much sought-after Royal Warrant, authorising the firm to use the coveted title "Watchmakers to the Queen" – a great honour for a French company, Le Roy was in fact the only active foreign House to have earned the title. Within a few years, the Emperor of Brazil and Her Majesty Queen Isabella II of Spain would grant the company the same honour.
In 1889, the company’s name was changed to "Leroy & Co, formerly The House of Le Roy & Sons".
The firm of Le Roy were famed for supplying some of the very best complicated watches, the present watch with a total of eight complications is no exception.
The three-quarter plate matte gilt movement is certainly in the “English style”, it was probably supplied by LeCoultre and finished by the firm of Nicole Nielsen & Co. in London. The escapement is the classic English lateral lever with diamond endstone rather than the Swiss straight line lever. In addition to the perpetual calendar, to audibly know the time to the nearest minute, the repeating mechanism can be activated by the slide in the band.
Le Roy & Sons
Since the 17th century, the ancient firm of Le Roy has been one of the great names of French watchmaking having been watchmakers to the Dukes of Chartres and Bourbon and then Watchmaker to the King and the Duke of Orléans.
In 1854 the first Le Roy boutique in London was opened under the name "Le Roy & Sons" at 296 Regent Street. The success of the first boutique was followed by the opening of a second outlet at 57 New Bond Street where the present watch was sold. In 1863 Queen Victoria granted Le Roy & Sons the much sought-after Royal Warrant, authorising the firm to use the coveted title "Watchmakers to the Queen" – a great honour for a French company, Le Roy was in fact the only active foreign House to have earned the title. Within a few years, the Emperor of Brazil and Her Majesty Queen Isabella II of Spain would grant the company the same honour.
In 1889, the company’s name was changed to "Leroy & Co, formerly The House of Le Roy & Sons".