Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
H.L Matile Locle pocket watch, circa 1840-1860s
- Maker / attribution
- H.L Matile Locle (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1840-1860s
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- 57mm ; weight 162.5g
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 389-39
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 39
- Catalogue title (original)
- H.L MATILE LOCLE, FULL ENGRAVED HUNTING CASE, POCKET WATCH, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 389-39), this is a pocket watch by H.L Matile Locle, dated circa 1840-1860s. 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: 57mm ; weight 162.5g. 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
EUR 3,400 - 6,700 / CHF 3,200 - 6,300 / USD 3,900 - 7,700 / JPY 600,000 - 1,190,000 A fine, heavy and large, five-body, 18k gold keyless, manual-winding pocket watch featuring a fully engraved hunting case, a white enamel dial with Roman numerals, an outer calibrated minute track, and a subsidiary seconds sub-dial. The front cover is finely engraved with an architectural scene depicting pointed gables, tall spires, arched openings, and a decorative foreground fountain, all framed by elaborate scrolling foliage. The back cover features a classical landscape engraving of a hillside town with a church tower, buildings, and distant hills, complemented by foreground columns, an arched gateway, and a balustraded staircase, all enclosed within ornate scrolled borders. The beautifully hand-engraved 18K gold case showcases harmonious landscape and architectural themes, characteristic of high-quality continental European workmanship from the period.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Case No.: 35979; Movement No.: 10811; Signature: 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
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.
Read next:Detached lever escapement
Related records
Pocket Watches · 19th or 20th century, in the style of 16th–early 17th century
Watch by Thomas Tompion, United Kingdom, 1800–1917
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · 1801-1900
Pocket watch by L'Epine, Jean Antoine, France, 1801-1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1801-1900
Pocket watch by Markwick, Markham; Perigal family, England, 1801-1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1801-1900
Pocket watch by William Ilbery, England, 1801-1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1801–1900
Pocket watch, 1801–1900
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · 1801-1900
Pocket watch, Switzerland, 1801-1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1801-1900
Swiss or French movement with horizontal escapement including "Jumper" mechanism, damaged (cylinder broken), incomplete (dial etc. missing) no.390, 1801-1900
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1818-1900
Pocket watch, England, 1818-1900
Science Museum Group, London