Wednesday, December 10, 2014

18K Two Train Grand & Petit Sonnerie With Trip Repeater
With Signed Original Wood Case including 2 alternate original dials



Beautiful carved and engraved massive 18K hunter cased Grande Sonnerie.  This watch by C. A. Montadon from Locle, Switzerland has a tandem wind 37 jewel movement with diamond endstones is a Grande & Petit Sonnerie and trip repeater which will chime the hours and quarter hours as time passes automatically.  The fully jeweled movement will chime the hours every hour by itself and will chime the hours and quarter hours every quarter hour (Grande Sonnerie).  It has 2 switches on the bezel; one for sonnerie or silent, and another to select Petit Sonnerie or Grande Sonnerie.  In the petit sonnerie mode the watch strikes the hours every hour, but at each quarter hour it chimes only the 2 tone quarter strikes without the hours, much like many striking clocks.  Winding the watch crown clockwise winds the watch and winding it counterclockwise winds the sonnerie.  There is a button in the edge band that, when pressed, makes the watch strike the hours and quarters on demand.  The case, dial and movement are all in very good working condition, correctly chiming the hours and quarters as time passes.  The watch is signed C A Montadon on the case, the movement and the original wood box.  The box has an inlaid brass shield and contains a spare alternate silver engraved dial and a clear glass dial with gold index numbers to display the magnificent complicated dial side of the movement.  The silver dial is very similar to many other dials like this on other C A Montadon watches from this period.  The clear glass dial has gold index numbers that are very worn because the numbers are on the outside of the dial where they were touched and cleaned by prior owners of the watch.








18K Minute Repeater with Perpetual Calendar

Excellent condition 18K hunter case minute repeater with perpetual calendar and moonphase.  The movement is signed by Samuel Lyon Jr., 57 Church Street, Blackpool, England.   The full plate movement is fully jeweled through the hammers with an English side lever escapement.  Movement, case and dial are all in excellent condition and all functions work correctly.  The massive 18K solid gold hunter case has no monograms or personal engravings.  The repeater slide is actually inset into the gold case band so only the operating edge of the slide shows, instead of the usual larger slide on other repeaters.  The perpetual calendar uses English language. 









4 Color Gold Repeater with Retrograde Perpetual Calendar

 This watch has a magnificent original 18K hunter case with 4 color gold appliques and deep engraving and gold carvings of lion's heads, flowers and shields.  The case and movement are by Charles Labourian, from Geneva & Paris and are in excellent condition with all functions working correctly.   The perpetual calendar keeps track of the number of days in each month and gives February 29 days every 4 years.  The moonphase dial correctly tracks the 29 1/2 day moon cycle.  The quarter repeater chimes the hours and quarter hours on 2 gongs.  The 35 jewel movement is in excellent working condition.  The case is signed "B H & J" for B. Haas & Jeune, a Swiss master watchmaker in the 2nd half of the 19th century.











Grande Complication - Mathey Tissot

Minute Repeater, Perpetual Calendar, Moonphase, Split Second Chronograph, Minute Register





This watch is a true grande complication having the following functions:
1.  Time
2.  Sub seconds
3.  Minute Repeater
4.  Month of the year (Perpetual calendar 4 years with leap year)
5.  Date of the month
6.  Day of the week
7.  Moonphase
8.  Age of the moon (# days since new moon, coaxial index with sub-seconds)
9.  Chronograph, start, stop, reset to zero)
10 Split chronograph (2nd sweep chrono hand with separate stop function)
11 Minute Register for Chronograph (continuous progressive type)

The 14K solid gold case with 56 round cut diamonds around the bezel is in near perfect condition.,, no dents or dings.  The movement and dial are also in near perfect condition, no distractions.  While the movement is labeled for 34 jewels, this does not include cap jewels, so the modern jewel count would be about 40 jewels.  The dial is a perfect stippled white gold or other non-tarnishing metal with incised, black filled, indexes for the functions. The hands are shiny gold and blued steel in excellent condition.  Incredibly, the watch is only 48.9 mm diameter and 14.3 mm deep, a masterpiece considering all of the complications.  Timekeeping is very good and all functions work correctly.  The watch comes in the antique watch box with a folding foot and doors for display purposes.

View a video of all functions working and operation of the watch explained here
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXPHJ75wZS4