Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Unsigned pocket watch, circa 1815
- Maker / attribution
- Unsigned (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1815
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- 56 mm.
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 390-130
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 130
- Catalogue title (original)
- UNSIGNED, SWITZERLAND, QUARTER REPEATING, DIANA & APOLLO JACQUEMART WITH CONCEALED EROTIC AUTOMATON, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 390-130), this is a pocket watch by Unsigned, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1815. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: 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 and rare, 18k gold, manual wind empire case, engine-turned with reeled band and polished bezels, push-piece at 6 to disclosing the erotic scene. Half skeletonised movement with quarter repeating pocket watch with automaton Jacks of Diana and Apollo and a small concealed erotic automaton scene of a couple on a bed, driven by the repeating train.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 47 mm., gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, fl at balance spring, gilt brass continental clock, repeating on two gongs activated by depressing the pendant.
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
From 1750 to 1850 the watch became a precision instrument. Mudge's lever escapement, the cylinder escapement, Lépine's thin bar calibre, Breguet's innovations (overcoil, tourbillon, perpétuelle) and the pocket chronometer of Arnold and Earnshaw all date from this period, while verge watches remained common in cheaper production.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Early Modern 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 repeaterMinute repeater
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