Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Yellow Gold H/C Minute Repeater Pocket Watch With, c. 1890
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1890
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- gold, yellow gold
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 71772927
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 2102, Fine & Decorative Arts - Day 2, Dan Morphy Auctions (2019), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Yellow Gold H/C Minute Repeater Pocket Watch With (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 71772927), this is a pocket watch, dated c. 1890. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold, yellow gold. 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 — Dan Morphy Auctions
Unnamed Yellow Gold Hunting Cased Minute Repeater Pocket Watch With Timer Complication. Circa 1890's. Stem wind. Lever set. Case measures 56mm in diameter, and has one French hallmark, or import mark, of an owl within an oval. This mark is associated with different karats of gold, but the fineness of this watch has not been definitively tested. Believed to be at least 14K. White enameled dial with a single sunken subsidiary seconds dial, black roman numeral hour markers, gold "Louis XIV" hands and black arabic seconds/timer. There are no markings, numbers or makers named anywhere within the watch. The case has some dents and waviness, and is rather thin. There is an exhibition crystal (loose) inside of the cuvette. The watch is currently running, chiming correctly and the second timer does start, stop and reset properly. The are a couple of hairline cracks to the dial. The hinges spring in the hunting lid is not very strong. Gross weight is 117.0 grams. Condition: (Good-Very Good). Dimensions:
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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