Mechanical Craft around 1800
Guangzhou clocks are included in Clocks.
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Clocks Jaquet-Droz and followers French time pieces
Chronology : 1792 1800-1809 1810-1819 1820-1829
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Clocks Jaquet-Droz and followers French time pieces
Chronology : 1792 1800-1809 1810-1819 1820-1829
1783 Elephant made in London
2012 SOLD for £ 1.6M by Sotheby's
At the beginning of the reign of George III, English mechanics are the best in the world. Qianlong knows. The prestige of serving such an illustrious client encourages English watchmakers to create extraordinary pieces.
The musical automaton sold for £ 1.6M from a lower estimate of £ 1M on July 4, 2012 by Sotheby's is highly sophisticated. Around 1780, the Swiss have not yet started the trend of songbirds. The main element of the piece is a big elephant that moves its trunk and ears and turns its eyeballs. Standing on the clock, it carries on its back a canopy covered pagoda surmounted by a Catherine wheel. The whole is 102 cm high.
This incredible object brought out from oblivion the maker who signed it, named Peter Torckler, listed in the commercial registers of London from 1780 to 1783. He thus appears as a skillful contemporary but probably also an unsuccessful competitor of James Cox.
There is no evidence that this piece went to reach China. It was probably in London in the 1890s when it was bought by the Shah of Persia.
I invite you to discover its main movements in the videos shared by Sotheby's.
The musical automaton sold for £ 1.6M from a lower estimate of £ 1M on July 4, 2012 by Sotheby's is highly sophisticated. Around 1780, the Swiss have not yet started the trend of songbirds. The main element of the piece is a big elephant that moves its trunk and ears and turns its eyeballs. Standing on the clock, it carries on its back a canopy covered pagoda surmounted by a Catherine wheel. The whole is 102 cm high.
This incredible object brought out from oblivion the maker who signed it, named Peter Torckler, listed in the commercial registers of London from 1780 to 1783. He thus appears as a skillful contemporary but probably also an unsuccessful competitor of James Cox.
There is no evidence that this piece went to reach China. It was probably in London in the 1890s when it was bought by the Shah of Persia.
I invite you to discover its main movements in the videos shared by Sotheby's.
1784 La Négresse
2019 SOLD for € 1.45M by Sotheby's
In London and Geneva in the early 1780s, clever mechanics created objects that were altogether automatons, clocks and music boxes. The fantasy of the themes responds to the fashion of the time.
In 1784 in Paris, the baron de Ville d'Avray buys the office of Intendant du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. In the shop of the clockmaker Furet in rue Saint-Honoré, a black head wearing a Nubian princess turban amuses the public. Ville d'Avray buys this piece for 4,000 livres.
This bronze bust conceals an ingenious clock, and its base contains a mechanical organ. The piece is 72 cm high overall. The woman is wearing a pair of hanging earrings. One of them triggers the appearance of the figure of the minutes in place of the iris of the right eye and similarly the figure of hours in the left eye. The other earring triggers the music.
Ville d'Avray is waiting for a good opportunity to place this clock. It clogs up very quickly by the coagulating oils, and he has it twice revised. He also acts to diversify the music. The clock is finally offered to the royal family among the 1792 new year gifts. Queen Marie-Antoinette decides not to leave this fragile piece in the hands of the Dauphin.
The Négresse was not a unique piece. The royal copy was authenticated in 1956 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Orangerie by Pierre Verlet, curator of the objects of art of the Louvre Museum. It wears two plaques in the name of Furet et Godon, who were associated from 1784 until Furet's bankruptcy in 1786.
Belonging since 1937 to the collection of the comtes de Ribes, the "Négresse de Marie-Antoinette" was sold for € 1.45M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 11, 2019, lot 10.
Dated 1817 by a former supplier of Godon, probably after a repair, an incomplete copy of the same model was sold for € 810K by Delorme Collin du Bocage on November 23, 2007. Three other examples are known.
In 1784 in Paris, the baron de Ville d'Avray buys the office of Intendant du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. In the shop of the clockmaker Furet in rue Saint-Honoré, a black head wearing a Nubian princess turban amuses the public. Ville d'Avray buys this piece for 4,000 livres.
This bronze bust conceals an ingenious clock, and its base contains a mechanical organ. The piece is 72 cm high overall. The woman is wearing a pair of hanging earrings. One of them triggers the appearance of the figure of the minutes in place of the iris of the right eye and similarly the figure of hours in the left eye. The other earring triggers the music.
Ville d'Avray is waiting for a good opportunity to place this clock. It clogs up very quickly by the coagulating oils, and he has it twice revised. He also acts to diversify the music. The clock is finally offered to the royal family among the 1792 new year gifts. Queen Marie-Antoinette decides not to leave this fragile piece in the hands of the Dauphin.
The Négresse was not a unique piece. The royal copy was authenticated in 1956 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Orangerie by Pierre Verlet, curator of the objects of art of the Louvre Museum. It wears two plaques in the name of Furet et Godon, who were associated from 1784 until Furet's bankruptcy in 1786.
Belonging since 1937 to the collection of the comtes de Ribes, the "Négresse de Marie-Antoinette" was sold for € 1.45M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 11, 2019, lot 10.
Dated 1817 by a former supplier of Godon, probably after a repair, an incomplete copy of the same model was sold for € 810K by Delorme Collin du Bocage on November 23, 2007. Three other examples are known.
#AuctionUpdate Cette superbe pendule musicale et automate, chef-d’œuvre d’horlogerie française, fut présentée Marie Antoinette en 1792. Elle obtient 1,4 M€ , au dessus de son estimation #RibesCollection pic.twitter.com/8rvH7jy5iE
— Sotheby's France (@SothebysFr) December 11, 2019
1786 Singing Bird by Jaquet-Droz, Leschot et Frisard
2015 SOLD for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's
Pierre Jaquet-Droz engineered automata in a very high complexity that could include hundreds of mechanical components.
His workshop started in the 1770s the theme of the bird cage that will deserve a great success. The song of the bird is obtained by a miniature mechanical organ named serinette with a unique note per pipe. Six pipes are enough to provide the illusion of a high variety.
In the middle of the next decade, Pierre Jaquet-Droz is associated with his son Henri-Louis and with Jean-Frédéric Leschot and engages the best mechanicians of Geneva including Henri Maillardet and Jacob Frisard. The trend to miniaturization increases and Frisard invents around 1784 the box that throws out the songbird at opening and folds it back at closing.
Success invites for the diversification of models and the integration of these mechanisms in enamelled goldware of highest luxury. The Chinese imperial court is interested in these innovations. From London, the clever entrepreneur James Cox maintains trade relations with the Far East.
On June 11, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.53M from a lower estimate if $ 800K a sumptuous automaton with an articulated singing bird made by Jaquet-Droz, Leschot and Frisard circa 1786, lot 104.
This piece 16 cm high has the shape of a scent flask with its stopper and also incorporates a watch, as it was often the case in this range of products. The size of the bird, 12 mm high, demonstrates the extreme miniaturization achieved by Jaquet-Droz at the time of Frisard.
It had been sold to Cox in 1787, certainly for the Chinese market.
His workshop started in the 1770s the theme of the bird cage that will deserve a great success. The song of the bird is obtained by a miniature mechanical organ named serinette with a unique note per pipe. Six pipes are enough to provide the illusion of a high variety.
In the middle of the next decade, Pierre Jaquet-Droz is associated with his son Henri-Louis and with Jean-Frédéric Leschot and engages the best mechanicians of Geneva including Henri Maillardet and Jacob Frisard. The trend to miniaturization increases and Frisard invents around 1784 the box that throws out the songbird at opening and folds it back at closing.
Success invites for the diversification of models and the integration of these mechanisms in enamelled goldware of highest luxury. The Chinese imperial court is interested in these innovations. From London, the clever entrepreneur James Cox maintains trade relations with the Far East.
On June 11, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.53M from a lower estimate if $ 800K a sumptuous automaton with an articulated singing bird made by Jaquet-Droz, Leschot and Frisard circa 1786, lot 104.
This piece 16 cm high has the shape of a scent flask with its stopper and also incorporates a watch, as it was often the case in this range of products. The size of the bird, 12 mm high, demonstrates the extreme miniaturization achieved by Jaquet-Droz at the time of Frisard.
It had been sold to Cox in 1787, certainly for the Chinese market.
1790 The Swan Pagoda Clock
2014 SOLD for £ 2.27M by Sotheby's
Clocks with self sounding bells had been introduced in the Chinese Imperial court by the Jesuits. The Chinese were not interested in time keeping but were amazed by the mechanisms. The English clockmakers were leading the market before the rise of the Swiss automata. They viewed in due course that the musical automaton clocks were capable to open to them a little more from the huge Chinese market. James Cox was allowed by the East India Company to open a shop in Canton's British zone.
The appealing criteria for these export clocks was the exuberance. A typical model was the pagoda clock, whose case was made of several tiers with a square surface gradually decreasing upwards, in a reference to the 80 m high nine-tiered Nanjing pagoda.
A pair of such clocks 116 cm high was made ca 1790 for the Chinese market. The five tiers are surmounted with a faceted automaton star linked to a rotating drum. Enamels are abundant and the second level displays a simulated fountain. The back plate is signed by Thompson in London. The clock rings the quarters.
The pair had been withdrawn for trade from an imperial palace in the early years of the Republic. It has been separated. One of them was sold for £ 570K by Christie's on June 12, 2003, lot 45. The other is the Swan clock featuring two of these birds swimming in the fountain. It was sold by Sotheby's on July 9, 2014 for £ 2.27M from a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 48.
The appealing criteria for these export clocks was the exuberance. A typical model was the pagoda clock, whose case was made of several tiers with a square surface gradually decreasing upwards, in a reference to the 80 m high nine-tiered Nanjing pagoda.
A pair of such clocks 116 cm high was made ca 1790 for the Chinese market. The five tiers are surmounted with a faceted automaton star linked to a rotating drum. Enamels are abundant and the second level displays a simulated fountain. The back plate is signed by Thompson in London. The clock rings the quarters.
The pair had been withdrawn for trade from an imperial palace in the early years of the Republic. It has been separated. One of them was sold for £ 570K by Christie's on June 12, 2003, lot 45. The other is the Swan clock featuring two of these birds swimming in the fountain. It was sold by Sotheby's on July 9, 2014 for £ 2.27M from a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 48.
1792 English Presentation Clock to the Qianlong Emperor
2008 SOLD for HK$ 36M by Christie's
Relations were bad between the East India Company and China. The balance of trade was very much in China's favor. The merchants requested the British government to intervene on their behalf and to establish a diplomatic relationship with China. Lord Macartney was appointed ambassador and set sail in September 1792.
Macartney took artifacts with him for presentation to the Qianlong emperor, including watches, clocks, a planetarium and an orrery. The party included an instrument maker and a watchmaker who were responsible for looking after mechanical gifts and for setting them up.
After leaving the larger presents behind in the Summer Palace in Beijing, presents were exchanged with the Qianlong emperor in September 1793 at the palace at Jehol. Looking around the Palace, the British were disappointed to find that it was filled with clocks and musical automata of such superb workmanship that their gifts would be ineffective.
After one and a half month in Beijing, Macartney was dismissed by the emperor and requested to return home immediately with a letter by Qianlong to King George III stating : "We do not have the slightest need of your country's manufactures."
The presentation included a pair of 74 cm high musical automaton clocks made in London by Henry Borrell who was a specialist of export for the Turkish market. They are made in ormolu and royal blue guilloché enamel.
The automaton scene is covered by a sliding panel, raised on each hour or on request to reveal sailing ships processing before an arched bridge, with twisted glass rods simulating a waterfall to the rear. The painted metal ships moving along further glass rods imitating the sea while music plays.
One of them was sold for HK $ 36M from a lower estimate of HK $ 4.5M by Christie's on May 27, 2008, lot 1511 in the sale of the Nezu Museum clock collection, lot 1511 and for HK $ 9.5M by Sotheby's on April 24, 2025, lot 2258. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's, displaying the five clocks of the 2025 sale including four Guangzhou clocks.
Its pair was sold for £ 224K by Christie’s on July 6, 2001, lot 39.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's, displaying the five clocks of the 2025 sale including four Guangzhou clocks.
Macartney took artifacts with him for presentation to the Qianlong emperor, including watches, clocks, a planetarium and an orrery. The party included an instrument maker and a watchmaker who were responsible for looking after mechanical gifts and for setting them up.
After leaving the larger presents behind in the Summer Palace in Beijing, presents were exchanged with the Qianlong emperor in September 1793 at the palace at Jehol. Looking around the Palace, the British were disappointed to find that it was filled with clocks and musical automata of such superb workmanship that their gifts would be ineffective.
After one and a half month in Beijing, Macartney was dismissed by the emperor and requested to return home immediately with a letter by Qianlong to King George III stating : "We do not have the slightest need of your country's manufactures."
The presentation included a pair of 74 cm high musical automaton clocks made in London by Henry Borrell who was a specialist of export for the Turkish market. They are made in ormolu and royal blue guilloché enamel.
The automaton scene is covered by a sliding panel, raised on each hour or on request to reveal sailing ships processing before an arched bridge, with twisted glass rods simulating a waterfall to the rear. The painted metal ships moving along further glass rods imitating the sea while music plays.
One of them was sold for HK $ 36M from a lower estimate of HK $ 4.5M by Christie's on May 27, 2008, lot 1511 in the sale of the Nezu Museum clock collection, lot 1511 and for HK $ 9.5M by Sotheby's on April 24, 2025, lot 2258. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's, displaying the five clocks of the 2025 sale including four Guangzhou clocks.
Its pair was sold for £ 224K by Christie’s on July 6, 2001, lot 39.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's, displaying the five clocks of the 2025 sale including four Guangzhou clocks.
1800 Complication Watch by Breguet
2016 SOLD for CHF 3.25M by Christie's
Watch lovers have always enjoyed the instruments of the utmost complexity. In 1783, one of them commissions to Breguet a montre de gousset (pocket watch) with all the complications including among several others the perpetual calendar, chronograph, minute repeater, reserve power indicator and chime.
This enthusiast who played for Breguet a similar role as Graves with Patek Philippe 150 years later was probably the Count Fersen known as a fervent admirer of the Queen of France and the watch was named the Marie-Antoinette. It was completed in 1827, four years after the death of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Breguet was the most skilful watchmaker of his time and the Marie-Antoinette could be used as a kind of prototype. On May 16, 2016, Christie's sold for CHF 3.25M from a lower estimate of CHF 600K a high complication watch sold new in 1800 of our calendar (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau, lot 123.
This pocket watch 55 mm in diameter has the serial number No. 217 of the brand. It is the only example beside the Marie-Antoinette to offer in the same case the perpetual motion and the equation of time.
The perpétuelle is a self winding mechanism with an oscillating weight offering 60 hours of autonomy from the effect of moderate movements of the user, with a protection against shocks on horseback. The equation of time is a correction of the difference between standard and solar times which can reach up to 16 minutes.
This piece does not include the technique of the tourbillon invented by Breguet in 1801. The steadiness is ensured by the échappement libre à ancre (lever escapement), another difficulty that only Breguet knew to overcome.
General Moreau died in the battle of Dresden in 1813. Breguet reacquired the 217 and modernized the dial before selling it in 1817 to Charles-Louis Havas, the financier who became famous for opening in Paris in 1832 the first ever newspaper translation business which became in 1835 his Havas Agency.
This enthusiast who played for Breguet a similar role as Graves with Patek Philippe 150 years later was probably the Count Fersen known as a fervent admirer of the Queen of France and the watch was named the Marie-Antoinette. It was completed in 1827, four years after the death of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Breguet was the most skilful watchmaker of his time and the Marie-Antoinette could be used as a kind of prototype. On May 16, 2016, Christie's sold for CHF 3.25M from a lower estimate of CHF 600K a high complication watch sold new in 1800 of our calendar (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau, lot 123.
This pocket watch 55 mm in diameter has the serial number No. 217 of the brand. It is the only example beside the Marie-Antoinette to offer in the same case the perpetual motion and the equation of time.
The perpétuelle is a self winding mechanism with an oscillating weight offering 60 hours of autonomy from the effect of moderate movements of the user, with a protection against shocks on horseback. The equation of time is a correction of the difference between standard and solar times which can reach up to 16 minutes.
This piece does not include the technique of the tourbillon invented by Breguet in 1801. The steadiness is ensured by the échappement libre à ancre (lever escapement), another difficulty that only Breguet knew to overcome.
General Moreau died in the battle of Dresden in 1813. Breguet reacquired the 217 and modernized the dial before selling it in 1817 to Charles-Louis Havas, the financier who became famous for opening in Paris in 1832 the first ever newspaper translation business which became in 1835 his Havas Agency.
La montre du fondateur de l'AFP mise aux enchères le 16 mai à #Genève https://t.co/SwAls5tk1C #Montres pic.twitter.com/hJFRif0dqp
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) April 8, 2016
1805 Amphora by Piguet et Capt
2002 SOLD for CHF 4M (worth at that time US $ 2.4M) by Antiquorum
From 1802 to 1811 in Geneva, Piguet et Capt is the association of two mechanical craftsmen. A specialist in automata, Henry Capt had worked with Jaquet-Droz. He continued as an independent while his brother-in-law Daniel Isaac Piguet joined forces with Philippe Samuel Meylan.
The specialty of Piguet et Capt was the combination of miniature watches, automatons and music in jewelled structures of the greatest luxury, abundantly decorated with pearls and enamels. The shapes are varied : rings, snuff boxes, fans, shields.
On April 13, 2002, Antiquorum sold as lot 607 for CHF 4M worth at that time $ 2.4M a 10 cm high amphora attributed to Piguet et Capt. It had been one from a pair whose enamel panels are reversed from one another. Only one other pair is known and no single. They are not signed.
These exquisite musical gold pieces were made circa 1805 for the Chinese market, with an abundance of pearls. The upper part, between the top of the handles, is centered by two dials and an opening onto the mechanism. Note that skeleton watches were also a specialty of Meylan.
The belly of the amphora is painted in enamel of a mother and child in the style of Vigée-Le Brun. This small panel tilts forward to reveal a double-movement musical automaton in front of a pastoral background : a boy bounces a dog, and a young woman plays the guitar. The backside is decorated with a pastoral river scene on the lower panel and a dove in a flower basket on the upper panel.
This piece was later sold for HK $ 12.3M by Christie's on May 22, 2021, lot 2505. Its twin element had been sold for CHF 910K by Antiquorum on March 31, 2001, lot 47.
The other pair of amphora shaped gold watches from the same model is decorated with a scene of Helen and Paris while the automaton displays a pastoral scene with a girl and a cherub playing lyre and drums. The back side enamel decoration is floral in the lower panel and has a putto riding a swan in the upper panel.
An element of that pair was sold for CHF 560K by Antiquorum on April 22, 1995, lot 501. It is now kept at the Patek Philippe museum beside the element of the other known pair. Recently discovered, its twin with the mirror images was sold for HK $ 6.3M by Christie's on November 27, 2021, lot 2505.
The specialty of Piguet et Capt was the combination of miniature watches, automatons and music in jewelled structures of the greatest luxury, abundantly decorated with pearls and enamels. The shapes are varied : rings, snuff boxes, fans, shields.
On April 13, 2002, Antiquorum sold as lot 607 for CHF 4M worth at that time $ 2.4M a 10 cm high amphora attributed to Piguet et Capt. It had been one from a pair whose enamel panels are reversed from one another. Only one other pair is known and no single. They are not signed.
These exquisite musical gold pieces were made circa 1805 for the Chinese market, with an abundance of pearls. The upper part, between the top of the handles, is centered by two dials and an opening onto the mechanism. Note that skeleton watches were also a specialty of Meylan.
The belly of the amphora is painted in enamel of a mother and child in the style of Vigée-Le Brun. This small panel tilts forward to reveal a double-movement musical automaton in front of a pastoral background : a boy bounces a dog, and a young woman plays the guitar. The backside is decorated with a pastoral river scene on the lower panel and a dove in a flower basket on the upper panel.
This piece was later sold for HK $ 12.3M by Christie's on May 22, 2021, lot 2505. Its twin element had been sold for CHF 910K by Antiquorum on March 31, 2001, lot 47.
The other pair of amphora shaped gold watches from the same model is decorated with a scene of Helen and Paris while the automaton displays a pastoral scene with a girl and a cherub playing lyre and drums. The back side enamel decoration is floral in the lower panel and has a putto riding a swan in the upper panel.
An element of that pair was sold for CHF 560K by Antiquorum on April 22, 1995, lot 501. It is now kept at the Patek Philippe museum beside the element of the other known pair. Recently discovered, its twin with the mirror images was sold for HK $ 6.3M by Christie's on November 27, 2021, lot 2505.
1808 Tourbillon Watch by Breguet
2020 SOLD for £ 1.58M by Sotheby's
The Régulateur à Tourbillon (Whirling about Regulator), patented by Breguet in 1801 after the achjevement of a prototype, is one of the most important inventions in the history of timepieces. The instrument, now protected against variations in its position and fluctuations in gravity, can be used in travel without loss of precision.
Breguet develops after 1806 the applications for its tourbillon. The four-minute rotation, replacing the one-minute rotation, decisively improves the stability.
The most enthusiastic horology lovers are alerted about this progress. France is at war with England. King George III discreetly uses the services of an intermediary named Recordon to obtain one of these watches.
Breguet retrieved the reference of this piece in their archives. Sold on June 29, 1808 to Recordon for the King of England, it appears to be the very first tourbillon to have been marketed. It includes a thermometer, which is certainly a specific requirement of the king, and a Robin escapement that Breguet rarely used. To mitigate the risk of interception by customs, the Breguet brand does not appear on the outside and the dial is signed by Recordon. The payment of the 4,800 francs was completed in 1813 by the Prince Regent.
Remained in its original configuration, the Breguet watch of George III was sold by Sotheby's for £ 550K on November 9, 1999 and for £ 1.58M on July 14, 2020, lot 28.
A watch from the same period, with a Breguet escapement and without a thermometer, is certainly the very first to have incorporated the four minute tourbillon. Sold for 4,600 francs on February 12, 1809 for Count Potocki, it was sold for CHF 820K by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
Breguet develops after 1806 the applications for its tourbillon. The four-minute rotation, replacing the one-minute rotation, decisively improves the stability.
The most enthusiastic horology lovers are alerted about this progress. France is at war with England. King George III discreetly uses the services of an intermediary named Recordon to obtain one of these watches.
Breguet retrieved the reference of this piece in their archives. Sold on June 29, 1808 to Recordon for the King of England, it appears to be the very first tourbillon to have been marketed. It includes a thermometer, which is certainly a specific requirement of the king, and a Robin escapement that Breguet rarely used. To mitigate the risk of interception by customs, the Breguet brand does not appear on the outside and the dial is signed by Recordon. The payment of the 4,800 francs was completed in 1813 by the Prince Regent.
Remained in its original configuration, the Breguet watch of George III was sold by Sotheby's for £ 550K on November 9, 1999 and for £ 1.58M on July 14, 2020, lot 28.
A watch from the same period, with a Breguet escapement and without a thermometer, is certainly the very first to have incorporated the four minute tourbillon. Sold for 4,600 francs on February 12, 1809 for Count Potocki, it was sold for CHF 820K by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
Fit for a King: King George III's Tourbillon Watch - an horological treasure discreetly sold by French watchmaking genius Breguet to the King of England in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars - will be auctioned in London in July. Click here for more details:https://t.co/Oal8BTVNgx pic.twitter.com/nfqYozr1fi
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 18, 2020
1814 Complication Watch by Breguet
2012 SOLD for CHF 4.3M by Christie's
A watchmaker is primarily a physicist. Nothing is simple for reaching the extreme precision required for time measuring scientific instruments. They have to deal with gravity, thermal expansion, and also the irregularities of the sun's apparent motion.
The eighteenth century had highly important mechanics. Abraham-Louis Breguet, micro-mechanical genius, settled into pocket watches the most extraordinary complications of the clocks, and was the inventor of basic concepts such as the tourbillon and the wristwatch.
On May 14, 2012, Christie's sold a Breguet watch for CHF 4.3M from a lower estimate of CHF 800K, lot 230.
This complication piece sold in 1814 has two main dials. It integrates two similar and symmetrical complete mechanisms. The idea of the inventor was to compensate the mechanical resonance, a source of error that was a challenge for the watchmakers. This is the first of three watches made by Breguet on this principle. The other two has been provided to the kings of England and France.
The eighteenth century had highly important mechanics. Abraham-Louis Breguet, micro-mechanical genius, settled into pocket watches the most extraordinary complications of the clocks, and was the inventor of basic concepts such as the tourbillon and the wristwatch.
On May 14, 2012, Christie's sold a Breguet watch for CHF 4.3M from a lower estimate of CHF 800K, lot 230.
This complication piece sold in 1814 has two main dials. It integrates two similar and symmetrical complete mechanisms. The idea of the inventor was to compensate the mechanical resonance, a source of error that was a challenge for the watchmakers. This is the first of three watches made by Breguet on this principle. The other two has been provided to the kings of England and France.
1820 Singing Bird Pistols by Rochat
2011 SOLD for HK$ 45.5M by Christie's
Geneva got an important place in art history for its jewelry and its precision mechanical crafts. A pair of singing birds created circa 1820, attributed to Frères Rochat, was sold by Christie's on May 30, 2011 for HK $ 45.5M from a lower estimate of HK $ 20M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
These automata are pistol shaped and their barrels house the hundreds of mechanical components. The decor is exquisite and the materials are precious: gold, enamel, agate, pearl, diamond.
When the trigger is pulled, the colorful bird leaves at the end of the barrel, turns, opens and closes its wings and beak, sings. After such a work, it returns home.
They are in superb condition, as demonstrated by a video on the website of Christie's. Singing bird pistol automaton are very rare, and these are the only remaining examples that have been kept as a pair.
These automata are pistol shaped and their barrels house the hundreds of mechanical components. The decor is exquisite and the materials are precious: gold, enamel, agate, pearl, diamond.
When the trigger is pulled, the colorful bird leaves at the end of the barrel, turns, opens and closes its wings and beak, sings. After such a work, it returns home.
They are in superb condition, as demonstrated by a video on the website of Christie's. Singing bird pistol automaton are very rare, and these are the only remaining examples that have been kept as a pair.
