Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Unsigned pocket watch, circa 1900s
- Maker / attribution
- Unsigned (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1900s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k pink gold
- Dimensions
- 52mm ; weight 105g
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 389-128
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 128
- Catalogue title (original)
- UNSIGNED, SWISS, QUARTER REPEATER POCKET WATCH, 18K PINK GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 389-128), this is a pocket watch by Unsigned, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1900s. 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 pink gold. Recorded dimensions: 52mm ; weight 105g. 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 2,000 - 4,200 / CHF 1,900 - 4,000 / USD 2,300 - 4,900 / JPY 356,000 - 750,000 A fine, 18k pink gold, keyless open-face pocket watch with quarter-repeating, white enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five-minute numerals, and subsidiary seconds.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: Swiss Patent No. 334, 19''', matte gilt, 21 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator with silvered scale on a bridge, repeating on gongs activated by a push button in the band, centrifugal governor.; Case No.: 21001
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 repeaterMinute repeater
Related records
Instruments · circa 1930
Unsigned marine chronometer, circa 1930
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1790s
Unsigned pocket watch, circa 1790s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1810s
Unsigned pocket watch, circa 1810s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1810
Unsigned watch, circa 1810
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1900
Calame-Robert Chronometer, circa 1900
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1900
Patek Philippe Chronometro Gondolo, circa 1900
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · 1900
Pocket watch by A. Sandoz-Boucherin, Switzerland, 1900
German Clock Museum
Pocket Watches · 1900
Pocket watch by Armand Schwob & Frère, Switzerland, 1900
Science Museum Group, London