Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
A. Huguenin & Sons pocket watch, quarter-repeater, circa 1890
- Maker / attribution
- A. Huguenin & Sons (brand / maker)
- Date
- c. 1890
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- gold
- Dimensions
- diameter 54 mm
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 346-2
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 2, Geneva,January 3, 2022
- Catalogue title (original)
- A. Huguenin & Sons Pocket watch, quarter-repeater, chronograph; 14K yellow gold (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 346-2), this is a pocket watch by A. Huguenin & Sons, dated c. 1890. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold. Recorded dimensions: diameter 54 mm. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Antiquorum catalogue description
14K yellow gold, hunting-case, keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, with two horological complications:· Quarter-repeater on two steel gongs by two hammers (activated by the slide located on the case-band at 1 o’clock)· 1/5 second chronograph (activated by the olive-shaped push-piece located on the case-band at 12 o’clock) with outer ring divided in 300Cover engraved in taille-douce (fine-cut) with an Eagle; case-back engraved in taille-douce (fine-cut) with the cypher “F B de G”; glazed gold cuvette (dome).18’’’ ½, ¾ plate, nickel-plated, going barrel, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance and blued steel hairspring with terminal curve, index regulator; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial; chronograph work on the top plate.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Movement No.: 28 042; Case No.: 28 042 (by “R.F”); Material: 14K yellow gold; Caliber: 18’’’ ½, straight-line lever escapement; Diameter: 54 mm.; Weight: 125.4 gr.; Signature: cuvette (dome)
Inscriptions & marks
cuvette (dome)
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Repeating watches
Before electric light, telling the time in the dark was a real problem. Repeating watches strike the time on demand when a slide or push-piece is operated: quarter repeaters sound hours and quarters, minute repeaters hours, quarters and minutes. Edward Barlow and Daniel Quare disputed the invention in London in the 1680s. Early repeaters struck on a bell inside the case; Abraham-Louis Breguet introduced the gong (a coiled steel wire) around 1780, allowing thinner watches.
Repeaters require a separate train with racks, snails and a governor to control the striking speed, and are among the most demanding complications to make and adjust. Swiss makers of the Vallée de Joux specialised in repeating ébauches in the nineteenth century.
What to look for
- A slide on the case band or a push-piece through the pendant.
- Gongs encircling the movement (after c. 1780) or a bell in the case (earlier); pierced case for sound.
- The racks, snails and governor visible under the dial or on the movement.
- Terms such as 'Minutes', 'Quarts' or 'Répétition' on the dial or cuvette.
Dating clues
- Bell-striking quarter repeaters: c. 1690–1800.
- Gong repeaters and dumb repeaters (striking on the case): after c. 1780.
- Minute repeaters became more common after c. 1830 with Vallée de Joux ébauches.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Minute repeater
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