
Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Auguste Huguenin & Fils pocket watch, circa 1880
- Maker / attribution
- Auguste Huguenin & Fils (brand / maker)
- Date
- c. 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- diameter 56 mm
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 344-39
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 39, Geneva,November 6-7, 2021
- Catalogue title (original)
- HUGUENIN, 18K GOLD POCKET WATCH WITH TRIPLE CALENDAR AND MOON PHASES (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 344-39), this is a pocket watch by Auguste Huguenin & Fils, dated c. 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: diameter 56 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
A very fine, manual wind, 18k yellow gold triple date pocket watch with calendar and moonphase
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Movement No.: 15360; Case No.: 15360; Caliber: 19’’’, nickel, fausses cotes decoration, 25 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring; Diameter: 56 mm; Signature: Dial, Case and Movement
Inscriptions & marks
Dial, Case and Movement
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
Calendar, moon-phase and perpetual calendar watches
Calendar complications range from a simple date to the perpetual calendar, which automatically allows for months of different lengths and leap years until 2100. Pocket watches with perpetual calendars were made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Patek Philippe made the first perpetual calendar wristwatch in 1925, and series production followed in 1941. The annual calendar (Patek Philippe, 1996) needs correction only once a year.
Moon-phase displays use a disc with two moons and 59 teeth advanced daily, approximating the 29.5-day lunation; more precise trains reduce the error to one day in over a century.
What to look for
- Apertures or subsidiary dials for day, date, month and leap year.
- Moon disc under a 'bosom' shaped aperture.
- Recessed correctors on the case band for setting the calendar.
Dating clues
- Triple-date wristwatches: popular c. 1940–1955.
- Perpetual calendar wristwatches: from 1925 (unique) and 1941 (series).
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.
Related records
Pocket Watches · 1880
Pocket watch, 1880
Museum Rotterdam
Pocket Watches · mid 19th century
Watch, enamelled gilt brass of floral design, signed 'A Bloys.', France, in an early 17th century style but possibly mid 19th century
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1835–1875
Pocket watch by Cornelius Brooks Holliday, England, 1835–1875
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · c. 1840–60
Watch by Callaud, c. 1840–60
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · c. 1840-1860s
G.H. Berblinger pocket watch, c. 1840-1860s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · c. 1840-1860s
H.L Matile Locle pocket watch, c. 1840-1860s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · c. 1849–50
Watch by Edward Prior, England, c. 1849–50
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · 1845–1855
Pocket watch, 1845–1855
Museum of City History Leipzig
