A9740

Rare Chinese Market Duplex with Enamelled Movement

£23,000.00

Signed  Swiss
Circa   1860
A rare mid 19th Century enamelled duplex for the Chinese market in a plain gold case.
Diameter   56 mm         

Out of stock

Description

A rare mid 19th Century enamelled duplex for the Chinese market in a plain gold case.  Keywind Tixier calibre movement with gilt champleve blue and white enamel cock, bridges and suspended going barrel.   Silvered engine turned plate.  Garnet endstone in a gold engraved setting, polished steel regulator.   Blue steel stop work and screws.  Polished steel three arm balance with three blue steel affixes, spiral hairspring.  Steel crab tooth duplex escape wheel allowing the hand to appear to beat seconds.  White enamel dial with Roman numerals, centre seconds, blue steel hands.  Plain gold open face case, gold oval pendant and bow, button to release the back cover.   Glazed gilt sprung cuvette with apertures for winding and hand set..

A rare example in excellent overall condition.  In 1858, a Genevan craftsman called Pelaz, living in Fleurier, introduced enamelled bridges adapted for the Tixier caliber of Chinese Market movement. They created enormous interest, but very few were made due to the delicacy of the pieces and the fact that the temperatures involved in the enamelling process sometimes caused the bridges to distort, which affected the going of the movements.  See: A. Chapuis, La Montre Chinoise, Neuchatel, page 170 and colour plate.

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