
Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Audemars Piguet pocket watch, circa 1980
- Maker / attribution
- Audemars Piguet (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1980
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- 41mm ; weight 36.4g
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 389-9
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 9
- Catalogue title (original)
- AUDEMARS PIGUET, OPEN FACE POCKET WATCH, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 389-9), this is a pocket watch by Audemars Piguet, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1980. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: 41mm ; weight 36.4g. The record is illustrated with 3 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
EUR 1,150 - 2,300 / CHF 1,050 - 2,100 / USD 1,300 - 2,600 / JPY 198,000 - 396,000 A fine and rare, 18k yellow gold, keyless, manual-winding pocket watch with a white dial. The caseback is stamped with the case number and engraved "H.J. June 23, 1980".
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 5020; Case No.: B38315; Signature: Dial, case and movement; Accessories: Universal Geneva signed fitted box, universal leather pouch, and unsigned chain approx 39.5cm
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz pocket watches and inexpensive novelty watches appeared, while traditional mechanical pocket watches survived mainly as collectibles and gifts.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Hunter, half-hunter and open-face watches
In the nineteenth century the pocket watch case settled into a few standard forms. The hunter (French savonnette) has a hinged front lid protecting the crystal — reputedly for riders who could not risk broken glass — and is opened by pressing the crown or a push-piece. The half-hunter has a small window in the lid so the hands can be read when closed. The open-face (lépine) watch has no front cover, with the crown at 12; hunters normally carry the crown at 3.
Case types also changed with winding: key-wound watches gave way to keyless (stem-wound) mechanisms after Adrien Philippe's and others' designs of the 1840s, with pendant setting or lever setting.
What to look for
- Crown position relative to the seconds dial: at 3 for hunters, at 12 for open-face watches.
- Spring-loaded front cover with a push-piece in the pendant.
- Half-hunter chapter ring enamelled on the lid.
- Key holes in the inner dome (cuvette) versus keyless winding.
Dating clues
- Keyless winding spread after c. 1850 and became standard by c. 1890.
- English hallmarks inside gold and silver cases give the year of assay.
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.
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