
Movements & Components · Pocket watch
Pocket watch by Czapek & Cie, Switzerland, 1845–1860
- Maker / attribution
- Czapek & Cie (Created)
- Date
- 1845–1860
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Place
- Geneva
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- Gold; Emaille; Emaillemalerei; Glas; Metall, gebläut; Metall, vergoldet, graviert; Gold; Edelsteine
- Dimensions
- Durchmesser (mit Bügel): 4,5 cm
- Holding institution
- Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Museum Schloss Neuenburg
- Accession / object no.
- MSN-V 11626 H
- Credit line
- Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Museum Schloss Neuenburg
- Catalogue title (original)
- Damentaschenuhr mit Emaillemalerei (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Museum Schloss Neuenburg (object number MSN-V 11626 H), this is a pocket watch by Czapek & Cie, made in Geneva, Switzerland, dated 1845–1860. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Movements & Components collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gold; Emaille; Emaillemalerei; Glas; Metall, gebläut; Metall, vergoldet, graviert; Gold; Edelsteine. Recorded dimensions: Durchmesser (mit Bügel): 4,5 cm. 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
Catalogue description from Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Museum Schloss Neuenburg (German)
Die Damentaschenuhr wurde zwischen 1845 und 1860 von der Schweizer Uhrenmanufaktur Czapek & Cie in Genf hergestellt und war für den polnischen Markt bestimmt. Die Rückseite des Gehäuses wird von einer polychromen Emaillemalerei in einem Renaissance-Wappenfeld bestimmt. Dargestellt wurden Maria mit dem Jesuskind auf dem Arm und rechts daneben Johannes der Täufer. Die Figurengruppe wird von einer floralen und ornamentalen Gravur mit schwarz-weißem Grubenemaille umrankt. Das kurze Pendant der Taschenuhr hat eine kugelförmige Krone mit einem runden Bügel. Das schlicht gehaltene Ziffernblatt aus weißem Emaille hat schlanke, schwarze, römische Stundenzahlen, eine umlaufende Strichminuterie und zwei gebläute Breguet-Zeiger. Das Uhrwerk wurde mit einem vergoldeten Brückenwerk in Genfer Bauart mit einer Zylinderhemmung, mehreren Lagersteinen, violett gebläuten Schrauben, goldenen Gangrädern und einem floral gravierten Hemmungskloben ausgestattet. Auf der Cuvette wurde das Signet des Herstellers "Czapek et Cie a Geneve" eingraviert. Die Taschenuhr wird mit einem Schlüsselaufzug betrieben. Der dazugehörende Schlüssel hat eine goldene, querovale Reide und einen silbernen Schaft.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Standardised calibres, interchangeable parts and machine tools allowed movements to be mass-produced in American and Swiss factories.
Read the period in the timelineMore movements & components from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Clock and watch movements
The movement is the mechanism of a clock or watch, without its case and dial. It consists of the power source (weight or mainspring in its barrel, sometimes with a fusee), the going train of wheels and pinions, the escapement and oscillator, the motion work that drives the hands, and in many cases additional trains for striking or complications.
From the eighteenth century watch movements were increasingly produced in stages: Swiss and French ébauche makers supplied rough movements that finishers, repasseurs and retailers completed and signed. Calibre numbers — first used systematically by American and Swiss factories in the nineteenth century — make it possible to identify movements, find spare parts and date watches.
What to look for
- Plate and bridge layout: full plate, three-quarter plate, Lépine bar calibre, bridges and cocks.
- Jewel count and whether jewels are set in chatons or rubbed in.
- Signatures, calibre and serial numbers on the plate or under the dial.
- Finishing: Geneva stripes (Côtes de Genève), perlage, bevelled edges, blued screws.
- Fusee and chain, going barrel, or electrical components.
Dating clues
- Full-plate English movements dominate before c. 1850; three-quarter plate and Lépine calibres after.
- Jewelled movements spread after Facio and Debaufre's patent of 1704, mainly in English work until c. 1800.
- Calibre numbers and factory serials allow close dating for industrial production after c. 1850.
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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