Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Agassiz Watch Co. pocket watch, split-seconds chronograph, circa 1910-1920
- Maker / attribution
- Agassiz Watch Co. (brand / maker)
- Date
- c. 1910-1920
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- gold
- Dimensions
- diameter 46.9 mm
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 346-4
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 4, Geneva,January 3, 2022
- Catalogue title (original)
- Agassiz Pocket watch, split-seconds chronograph, minute counter; 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 346-4), this is a pocket watch by Agassiz Watch Co., dated c. 1910-1920. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold. Recorded dimensions: diameter 46.9 mm. The record is illustrated with 2 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, open-face, keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket watch, with subsidiary seconds at 6 and three horological complications:· 1/5 second chronograph (activated by the round push-piece located on the crown)· Split-seconds (activated by the rectangular push-piece located on the case-band at 11 o’clock)· Half-instantaneous 30-minute counter (subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock)White enamel dial with suspended “Breguet” numerals; blued steel “Spade” hands.Movement 17’’’, rhodium-plated, going barrel, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensated balance with gold poising screws and blued steel hairspring with terminal curve, polished steel index-regulator with swan-neck spring and micrometric screw, adjusted; chronograph work and split-seconds work on the top plate.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Model: made for the American market; Movement No.: 254 816; Case No.: 254 816 (by “AW”, probably American Watch Case Co., New York); Material: 14K yellow gold; Caliber: 17’’’, straight-line lever escapement, adjusted; Diameter: 46.9 mm.; Weight: 78.3 gr. (approx.); Signature: dial and movement
Inscriptions & marks
dial and movement
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The pocket watch reached technical maturity and then began to give way to the wristwatch after the First World War. Complicated watches for collectors such as Henry Graves Jr. and James Ward Packard, railroad watches, and slim Art Deco dress watches are characteristic.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Chronographs and split-seconds watches
A chronograph is a watch with an additional seconds hand that can be started, stopped and returned to zero independently of the timekeeping. Louis Moinet built an early example in 1816 and Nicolas Rieussec a recording 'chronographe' in 1821; Adolphe Nicole's heart-shaped reset cam (patented 1862) made the modern return-to-zero possible. Split-seconds (rattrapante) chronographs add a second hand that can be stopped for intermediate times; flyback chronographs restart instantly.
Chronographs were essential tools for doctors (pulsometer scales), artillery (telemeter), engineers and sport. In wristwatches, Valjoux, Venus, Lemania and later the automatic chronographs of 1969 (Zenith El Primero, the Chronomatic Calibre 11 group and Seiko 6139) are milestones.
What to look for
- Push-pieces on the case band or a single button in the crown (monopusher).
- Subsidiary registers for minutes and hours; tachymeter, telemeter or pulsometer scales.
- Column wheel versus cam control visible in the movement.
- Calibre markings of specialist makers (Valjoux, Lemania, Venus, Landeron).
Dating clues
- Pocket chronographs with heart cam reset: after 1862.
- Wrist chronographs: from c. 1910; two-button designs from the 1930s.
- Automatic chronographs: from 1969.
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:Flyback chronographChronograph
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