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Louis Audemars, made for Charles Oudin. A fine, rare and early 18K gold half hunter case quarter repeating full calendar keyless lever watch with moon phases

Signed Ch. Oudin, Her de la Marine, Palais Royal 52, Paris, Médailles de 1806 a 1864, No. 21'685, case stamped with Louis Audemars hallmarks and numbered 9'979, circa 1865

Details

Louis Audemars, made for Charles Oudin. A fine, rare and early 18K gold half hunter case quarter repeating full calendar keyless lever watch with moon phases
Signed Ch. Oudin, Her de la Marine, Palais Royal 52, Paris, Médailles de 1806 a 1864, No. 21'685, case stamped with Louis Audemars hallmarks and numbered 9'979, circa 1865
Mechanical jewelled movement, Audemars’ counterpoised lever or "Bishop's crook pallet", quarter repeating on two hammers onto two gongs, gold cuvette, white enamel dial, Roman numerals, aperture for moon phases and lunar calendar, three subsidiary dials for date, day and month with constant seconds, plain circular case, Roman numerals on blue enamel chapter ring to the glazed aperture in the front, repeating slide in the band, case stamped with Louis Audemars hallmark and casemaker's initials A.M., cuvette and movement signed and numbered by Charles Oudin, dial signed Charles Oudin
53 mm. diam.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. On lots marked with an + in the catalogue, VAT will be charged at 8% on both the premium as well as the hammer price.

Lot Essay

The present watch is a very fine example of a complicated timepiece made by Louis Audemars for his faithful client, the renowned Horloger de la Marine Charles Oudin in Paris, one of his main clients since around 1860.

It features Louis Audemars' early pendant winding and hand-setting mechanism, developed by Hector Audemars in 1838 (see Louis-Benjamin Audemars - His Life and Work by Hartmut Zantke, p. 131), and his counterpoised lever, also called "Bishop's crook lever" (p. 192, pl.T92, op. cit). The case is stamped with Louis Audemars' hallmarks consisting of a capital letter B in a shield for "Brassus", a lozenge-shaped cartouche with the double cross of Lorraine on a heart containing the capital letters "L.A." for Louis Audemars (p. 187, pl. T68, op. cit).

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