Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Le Coultre 18K hunter case minute repeater pocket watch, c. 1895
- Maker / attribution
- Le Coultre (maker)
- Date
- c. 1895
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 66359817
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 56, Rare & Important Timepieces, John Moran Auctioneers, Inc. (2018), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Le Coultre 18K hunter case minute repeater pocket watch (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 66359817), this is a pocket watch by Le Coultre, dated c. 1895. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. The record is illustrated with 4 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
Lot description — John Moran Auctioneers, Inc.
Circa 1895 Dial: white enamel dial, black Roman numerals, sunken seconds, steel spade hands Movement: jewelled stem-wind lever-set movement, nickel finish, damascene decoration, straight line lever escapement, bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel hairspring, minute repeating, slide activation, signed under hammer: Le Coultre & Co Case: 18K yellow gold hunter case, #5256, engine-turned hinged case lids, one centering a monogrammed reserve, smooth polished gold cuvette, slide repeater function to side, engine-turned case centering monogrammed reserve, hallmarked 18K 54mm Dia. 136 grams gross
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
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
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