Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Bonne pocket watch, La Chaux-de-Fonds (future Movado) – Bonne Large pocket watc, circa 1900
- Maker / attribution
- Bonne (brand / maker)
- Date
- c. 1900
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- diameter 59.7 mm
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 348-12
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 12, Hong Kong, March 9th, 2022
- Catalogue title (original)
- Achille Ditesheim, La Chaux-de-Fonds (future Movado) – Bonne Large pocket watch, quarter-repeater, chronograph; 18K 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 348-12), this is a pocket watch by Bonne, dated c. 1900. 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: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: diameter 59.7 mm. 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
18K yellow gold, hunting-case, keyless-winding, round-shaped, large pocket watch, with subsidiary seconds at 6 and two horological complications:· Quarter-repeater by two hammers on two steel gongs (activated by the slide located on the case-band at 6 o’clock)· 1/5 second chronograph (activated by the olive-shaped push-piece located on the case-band at 12 o’clock)Cover and case-back polished; gold cuvette (dome) engraved in taille-douce (fine cut) with the technical specifications of the movement.White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals; yellow gold “Louis XV” hands.Movement 20’’’, gilded brass, 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; repeater work on the main plate, under the dial; chronograph work on the top plate.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Model: under the trademark “Bonne”; Movement No.: unnumbered; Case No.: 205 037; Caliber: 20’’’, straight-line lever escapement; Diameter: 59.7 mm.; Weight: 133.1 gr. (approx.); Signature: cuvette (dome)
Inscriptions & marks
cuvette (dome)
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
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
Related records
Pocket Watches · 1900–1999
Lapel watch by Erik Holmén, 1900–1999
Nordic Museum Foundation
Pocket Watches · 1873–1930
Pocket watch, Lilla Malma socken, 1873–1930
Sörmland Museum
Pocket Watches · 1880–1920
Pocket watch, Sweden, 1880–1920
Sörmland Museum
Pocket Watches · 1890–1910
Pocket watch by Union Horlogère, France, 1890–1910
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · 1891–1945
Pocket watch, Germany, 1891–1945
Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum
Pocket Watches · c. 1900
Pocket watch by American Waltham Watch Company, United States, c. 1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · c. 1900
Pocket watch by Firm of Breguet et Fils, France, c. 1900
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · c. 1900
A.Lange & Söhne pocket watch, c. 1900
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva