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Lot Essay
The coat-of-arms on the present watch are those of Leeds of Berkshire, Molscroft, Lincoln, Lincoln's Inn, London and North Milford, York.
The present watch is thought to be the one of only three example of a Cartier dress watch with minute repeating activated by turning the bezel known to have appeared in public to date.
This highly unusual system was developed at the beginning of the 20th century with the aim of protecting the movement from humidity and dust intrusion as occurring in the common system with the slide in the band, requiring an opening in the case.
The production of this fragile mechanism however proved extremely difficult and costly and consequently, only a very small quantity of such watches was ever made and even fewer have survived to date.
The present watch is thought to be the one of only three example of a Cartier dress watch with minute repeating activated by turning the bezel known to have appeared in public to date.
This highly unusual system was developed at the beginning of the 20th century with the aim of protecting the movement from humidity and dust intrusion as occurring in the common system with the slide in the band, requiring an opening in the case.
The production of this fragile mechanism however proved extremely difficult and costly and consequently, only a very small quantity of such watches was ever made and even fewer have survived to date.