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    Sale 1348

    Important Pocket Watches and Wristwatches

    Geneva

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    12 November 2007

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    • Thomas Engel. A very fine and
    Lot 229 | VARIOUS PROPERTIES Read more

    Thomas Engel. A very fine and rare 18K gold openface keyless lever watch with up and down indicator, Guillaume balance, R. Daners' one minute tourbillon regulator, original certificate, Bulletin de Marche and box

    SIGNED THOMAS ENGEL, TOURBILLON, NO. 4, CASE NO. 35, MANUFACTURED IN 1983

    Price realised

    CHF 43,000

    Estimate

    CHF 30,000 - CHF 50,000

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    Thomas Engel. A very fine and rare 18K gold openface keyless lever watch with up and down indicator, Guillaume balance, R. Daners' one minute tourbillon regulator, original certificate, Bulletin de Marche and box
    Signed Thomas Engel, Tourbillon, No. 4, case no. 35, manufactured in 1983
    With half plate nickel-finished jewelled lever movement, Guillaume balance with gold poising screws, blued steel balance spring with overcoil, the one minute tourbillon regulator with polished steel three-arm carriage and engraved Régulateur à Tourbillon, construction: R. Daners, Lucerne, réglage: J.P. Vuille, Le Locle, glazed dust cover, the engine-turned silver dial with Roman numerals on blank chapter ring, blued steel moon-style hands, aperture for up and down indicator, subsidiary seconds, in circular case with engine-turned screw back centred by a small circular blank cartouche, engraved opening/closing directions F -> O in the band, winding and setting mechanism operated by twisting the bow, case, dial and movement signed
    57 mm. diam.

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    Lot Essay

    Accompanied by Thomas Engel original certificate no. 31 confirming the sale of the present watch by Chronomètrie Classique Aesch, Lucerne to Monsieur Anton Wickl on 28 January 1983, Bureaux Suisse de Contrôle Officiel de la Marche des Chronomètres Watch Rate Certificate No. 22514 dated 3 July 1982, original fitted wooden presentation box containing spare main-spring and a set of blued steel moon-style hour and minute hands.

    Professor Thomas Engel, an international coryphée in the field of researching polymers, holds around 120 patents in organic chemistry and numerous honours and prizes in this field, including the 1972 "Diesel Prize" that was jointly won with Dr. Wernher von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and specialist of space exploration.

    Professor Engel is not only a famous watch collector but also a passionate "self-made" maker of technically outstanding timepieces, often incorporating many style elements from Breguet.

    These watches, as exhibited in the present lot, are now known as the "Engel Breguets" and are considered highly important collector's pieces.

    The tourbillon regulator of the present watch was designed by Richard Daners, Master watchmaker, craftsman and creator of complicated timepieces at Gübelin in Lucerne from 1952 to 1995.

    In 1997 he was awarded the Gaia Prize, initiated in 1993 by the curator and directors of the Musée International d'Horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds. This international prize is dedicated to Maurice Ditisheim, an early patron of the museum. It is awarded to those who have advanced horology and promoted the arts, history and culture of timekeeping through their work.

    For the description and illustration of Thomas Engel's Tourbillon No. VI see Das Tourbillon by Reinhard, Meis, p. 278.

    Other information

    Pre-Lot Text

    VARIOUS PROPERTIES

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